CALVIN  AND  HIS  ENEMIES. 


%  IHtmoir 


LIFE,    CHARACTER,    AND    PRINCIPLES 


or 


CALYIN. 


Rev.   THOMAS*' SMYTH,   D.  D. 


Quid  enim  tota  ejus  vita  nisi  tempestas  veluti  quaedam 
perpetua  fuit? — MoRUs. 


NEW  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD    OF   PUBLICATION. 
265  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1856,  by 

JAMES   DUNLAP, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


Printed  by 

■WILLIAM   S.   MARTIEX. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Page. 
Introductory  Remarks,  -  -  -  9 

CHAPTER  11. 

Calvin  was  the  most  eminent  of  all  the  Reformers, 
and  remarkable  for  his  courage,  -  -  14 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Genius  and  Works  of  Calvin,  -  -  20 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Calvin  vindicated  from  the  charge  of  ambition, 
and  his  true  greatness  and  -wonderful  influ- 
ence shown,  -  -  -  -  28 

CHAPTER  V. 

Calvin  vindicated  from  the  charge  of  illiberality, 
intolerance,  and  persecution,  -  -  40 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Calvin  vindicated  from  the  charge  of  a  want  of  natu- 
ral affection  and  friendship,  -  -  65 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  obligations  which  we  owe  to  Calvin,  as  Ameri- 
can citizens  and  Christians,  illustrated,         -  69 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Page. 
The  closing  scenes  of  Calvin's  Life,         -  -  77 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A  supplementary  vindication  of  the  Ordination  of 
Calvin,  -  _  ...  84 


APPENDIX. 

I.  The  case  of  Servetus,              .            -  _  102 
Who  are  Calvin's  Revilers?     -            -  -  105 

II.  The  Will  of  John  Calvin,      -            -  -  117 

III.  The  views  of  Calvin  on  Prelacy,  vindicated  by 

the  Rev.  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D.        -  -  122 

IV.  Testimonials  to  Calvin,         -            -  _  147 

V.  Origin  of  the  calumny  that  Calvin  wished  to  ab- 

rogate the  Lord's  day,         -             -  -  153 

Melancthon's  approbation  of  the  course  of 

Calvin  towards  Servetus,     -            -  -  154 

The  Testimony  of  a  Unitarian,             -  -  155 

Temptation  of  John  Calvin,     -             -  _  1,57 

Calvin's  Ordination,                 _             _  _  160 

Calvin's  Mission  to  Brazil,      -            -  .  162 

VI.  Calvin's  Wife,           -            -            -  -  165 


i 


PREFACE. 


The  fact  that  John  Calvin  was  led,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  to  embrace  and  defend 
all  the  essential  principles  of  doctrine 
and  polity,  which  distinguish  the  sys- 
tem of  Presbyterianism,  has  exposed 
him  to  the  unceasing  calumny  of  all 
those  to  whom  that  system  is  unpala- 
ble.  Komanists,  prelatists,  and  errorists 
of  every  name,  have  vied  with  one 
another  in  their  efforts  to  blacken  his 
character  and  detract  from  his  fame. 
The  defence  of  Calvin  against  these 
misrepresentations  is  necessary  for  the 


6  PREFACE. 

glory  of  that  God  who  called  him  by  his 
rich  grace ;  for  the  honour  of  that  truth 
in  whose  cause  Calvin  lived  and  died; 
and  for  the  maintenance  of  that  church 
to  which  he  was  attached,  and  which  is 
built  upon  the  foundation  laid  by  apos- 
tles and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself 
being  the  chief  corner  stone.  And  thi 
defence  is  in  a  peculiar  manner  the 
privilege  and  duty  of  Presbyterians, 
with  whom  Calvin  has  been  so  gene- 
rally identified. 


Actuated  by  these  views,  the  alumni 
of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Prince- 
ton appointed  the  author  to  deliver  a 
discourse  in  vindication  of  the  life  and 
character  of  Calvin,  at  their  amiiversary 
meeting  in  May,  1843.  The  substance 
of  the  following  little  work  was  accord- 


PREFACE. 


ingly  delivered  in  Philadelphia,  in  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  during  the 
sessions  of  the  General  Assembly.  At 
the  request  of  the  alumni,  it  has  since 
been  published  in  some  of  our  religious 
papers;  and  it  is  now  prepared  by  the 
desire  of  the  Board  of  Publication  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  for  publica- 
tion as  one  of  their  volumes. 

That  it  may  lead  the  members  of  our 
beloved  Church  more  highly  to  estimate 
and  prize  the  character  and  achieve- 
ments of  Calvin;  that  they  may  thus 
be  excited  to  bless  God,  (who  raised  up 
Calvin,  and  qualified  him  for  his  work) 
for  his  past  dealings  with  his  Church, 
while  they  humbly  look  for  his  contin- 
ued guidance  and  protection — and  that 
the  inhabitants  of  this  country  may  be 


PREFACE. 


brought  by  it  more  deeply  to  appreci- 
ate the  influence  of  Calvin,  and  of  the 
system  he  advocated,  in  securing  those 
blessings  of  religious  and  civil  freedom 
by  which  they  are  distinguished,  is  the 
sincere  prayer  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 


THE 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 


OF 


Or 


CALYIN.       , 


PTER  t: 


■■<[ 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


Presbyterians,  that  is,  the  great  body  of  the 
Reformed  Church  throughout  the  world,  have 
been  very  commonly  denominated  Calvinists ;  not 
that  they  are  followers  of  Calvin,  either  in  doc- 
trine or  in  discipline,  since  the  doctrines  and  dis- 
cipline embraced  by  Presbyterians  existed  pre- 
vious to  the  appearance  of  Calvin,  and  were  adopt- 
ed, and  not  originated,  by  him.  Calvin,  how- 
ever, being  the  great  theologian  of  the  Reformers, 
so  well  defended,  so  clearly  expounded,  and  so  per- 
fectly systematized  these  principles,  as  to  connect 
with  them,  wherever  they  are  known,  his  illustri- 
ous name.  The  term  Calvinist  was  first  employed  in 
the  year  1562,  in  reference  to  the  standards  of  the 
Huguenots  or  French  Reformed  churcheS;  which 
2 


10  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

Calvin  drew  up;  from  which  time  it  came  to  be  em- 
ployed as  characteristic  of  all  those  who  adopted 
similar  doctrinal  principles.*  These  principles, 
however,  no  more  originated  with  Calvin  than  did 
the  Bible,  for  they  are  the  veiy  same  which  were 
held  forth  by  the  apostles — which  were  proclaimed, 
in  all  the  apostolic  churches — which  were  maintain- 
ed by  the  ancient  Culdees,  by  the  Waldenses,  and 
by  other  pure  and  scriptural  bodies — and  which 
were  eminently  defended  by  the  celebrated  Augus- 
tine, and  by  other  divines,  in  every  period  of  the 
Church. 

As  Presbyterians,  we  hold  no  principles  which 
are  not  found  in  the  word  of  God.  We  claim  no 
antiquity  less  recent  than  the  primeval  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church  of  God  on  earth.  In  our 
Christian  form,  we  build  upon  the  only  foundation 
laid  in  Zion,  the  foundation  of  apostles  and  pro- 
phets, Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone. We  call  no  man  master  upon  earth.  AVe 
know  no  man  after  the  flesh.  We  call  neither 
Abraham,  nor  Moses,  neither  Paul,  nor  Augus- 
tine, neither  Luther,  nor  Calvin,  ''our  Father." 
We  are  in  subjection  to  no  man,  nor  do  we  wear 
the  name  or  livery  of  any.     We  are  Christians  in 

*  Scott's  Continuation  of  Milner,  p.  472. — Waterman's 
Life  of  Calvin,  p.  210. 


OF  JOHN  CALVIN.  11 

doctrine,  and  Presbyterians  in  polity,  our  doctrine 
being  deduced  from  the  Scriptures,  and  Presby- 
tery being  the  only  polity  known  to  the  Apostles, 
or  to  the  apostolic  and  primitive  churches  of 
Christ. 

But  while  we  so  speak,  let  us  not  be  supposed 
to  disparage  the  name  and  character  of  Calvin,  or 
to  deprecate,  as  either  shame  or  reproach,  the  ap- 
plication of  the  term  Calvinists.  In  the  great 
body  of  Calvin's  principles — though  not  by  any 
means  in  all — we  concur.  To  the  life,  character, 
and  conduct  of  Calvin,  we  look  with  reverence  and 
high  esteem.  And  while  we  apologize  not  for  his 
errors  or  his  infirmities,  yet  were  we  required  to 
be  called  by  any  human  cognomen,  there  is  per- 
haps no  other  man,  since  the  days  of  the  Apos- 
tles, by  whose  name  we  would  prefer  to  be  desig- 
nated. 

The  reputation  and  character  of  this  distin- 
guished Reformer  have  been  opposed  by  every 
artifice  of  ingenuity,  sophistry,  and  malignity. 
The  vilest  and  most  baseless  calumnies  have  been 
heaped  upon  his  memory.  The  most  senseless 
and  improbable  stories  have  been  invented  to 
blacken  his  character,  and  to  detract  from  his 
illustrious  fame.  A  single  event,  distorted,  mis- 
represented, and  in  all  its  circumstances  im- 
puted to  his   single    agency,    although   consum- 


12  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

mated  by  the  civil  authorities  of  the  republic,  and 
although  in  accordance  with  the  established  senti- 
ments of  the  age,  has  been  made  to  colour  his 
whole  life,  to  portray  his  habitual  conduct,  and  to 
cover  with  infamy  the  man  and  his  cause.     Now, 
in  these  very  efforts  of  his  enemies,  Romish  and 
Prelatist,  and  in  their  nature,  source,  and  evident 
design,  we  find  a  noble  testimony  to  the  genius, 
power,  and  worth  of  Calvin.     He  who  opposes 
himself  to  existing  customs  and  prevalent  opin- 
ions, must  anticipate  resistance  in  proportion  to 
the  success  with  which  his  efforts  are  accompa- 
nied.    And  while  such  opposition,  in  itself  con- 
sidered, does  not  prove  that  such  a  man  is  right 
in  his  scheme  of  reformation,  but  only  that  his 
plan  involves  the  subversion  of  established  forms^ 
yet  may  we  learn  the   character  of  such  an  in- 
tended reformation,  and  of  such  a  bold  reformer, 
by  the  very  nature  of  that  opposition  which  is 
brought  to  bear  against  him.     And  if,  as  in  the 
present  case,  we  find  that,  in  order  to  withstand 
the  overwhelming  influence  of  such  a  man,  his 
enemies  are  driven  to  the  invention  of  forgeries, 
and  the  grossest  fabrications,  we  may  with  cer- 
tainty infer,  that  his  personal  character  was  irre- 
proachable.    In  like  manner,  when  these  enemies 
are  led  to  meet  the  arguments  of  such  a  man,  by 
personal  invective  and  abuse,  we  may  be  equally 


OF  JOHN  CALVIN.  13 

assured  that  his  is  the  cause  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness, and  theirs  the  cause  of  error.  Truth  is 
strong  in  her  conscious  and  imperishable  virtue. 
She  seeks  therefore  the  light,  courts  investigation, 
and  offers  herself  to  the  most  impartial  scrutiny. 
Error,  on  the  contrary,  having  no  inward  strength, 
is  weak  and  cowardly.  She  seeks  the  covert  and 
the  shade.  She  clothes  herself  in  the  garments  of 
concealment.  She  assumes  borrowed  robes  and 
names,  and  endeavours  by  artifice  and  treachery 
to  accomplish  her  base  designs.  In  Calvin,  there- 
fore, we  have  a  tower  built  upon  the  rock, 
rearing  its  lofty  head  to  the  clouds,  visible  from 
afar,  and  open  to  the  observation  of  all  men, 
which,  though  the  floods  roar,  and  the  winds  arise 
against  it,  yields  not  to  the  fury  of  the  tempest — 
because  its  foundations  are  secure.  In  the  enemies 
of  Calvin,  we  behold  the  secret  plotters  of  his  ruin, 
who,  conscious  of  his  invincibility  when  opposed 
by  any  fair  or  honourable  onset,  dig  deep  within 
the  bosom  of  the  earth,  and  there  concealed  by 
darkness,  and  buried  from  all  human  sight,  ply 
their  nefarious  arts  to  sap,  and  undermine,  and 
by  well  concerted  stratagem,  to  overwhelm  in 
destruction  an  innocent  and  unsuspecting  victim. 


2^ 


14  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 


CHAPTER  n. 

CALVIN  WAS  ONE    OF   THE  MOST  EMINENT   OF  ALL  THE  RE- 
FORMERS,   AND   REMARKABLE  FOR    HIS  COURAGE. 

"Calvin/'  said  Bishop  Andrews,  "was  an  illus- 
trious person,  and  never  to  be  mentioned  without 
a  preface  of  the  highest  honour,"  "Of  what  ac- 
count,''  says  his  great  opponent,  Hooker,  "the 
Master  of  Sentences  was  in  the  Church  of  Rome, 
the  same  and  more  amongst  the  preachers  of 
reformed  churches  Calvin  had  purchased:  so  that 
the  perfectest  divines  were  judged  they,  which 
were  skilfulest  in  Calvin's  writings;  his  books 
almost  the  very  canon  to  judge  both  doctrine  and 
discipline  by."  And  again,  concerning  his  Com- 
mentaries and  his  Institutes,  which  together  make 
up  eight  parts  out  of  nine  of  his  works.  Hooker 
adds,  "we  should  be  injurious  unto  virtue  itself, 
if  we  did  derogate  from  them  whom  their  industry 
hath  made  great.  Two  things  of  principal  mo- 
ment there  are,  which  have  deservedly  procured 
him  honour  throughout  the  world:  the  one  his 
exceeding  pains  in  composing  the  Institutes  of 
Christian  Religion;  the  other  his  no  less  industri- 
ous travails  for  exposition  of  Holy  Scripture,  ac- 
cording unto  the  same  Institutions.  In  which 
two   things  whosoever  they  were  that  after  him 


or   JOHN   CALVIN.  15 

bestowed  their  labour,  be  gained  the  advantage  of 
prejudice  against  them,  if  they  gainsayed,  and  of 
glory  above  them,  if  they  consented/' 

Such  was  the  estimation  in  which  Calvin  was 
held  by  his  cotemporaries,  both  continental  and 
An2;lican.  To  Cranmer  and  his  associates  in  the 
English  Reformation,  he  was  all  in  all.  They 
sought  his  counsel,  leaned  upon  his  wisdom,  were 
guided  by  his  directions,  and  sustained  by  his 
consolations.  His  name  is  found  enrolled  with 
honour  in  the  Book  of  Convocation  as  late  as  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  bis  spirit  still  breathes 
through  those  Articles  which  have  preserved  the 
Protestantism  and  the  orthodoxy  of  the  English 
church.* 

Among  the  continental  Reformers,  Calvin  was 
equally  pre-eminent.  Giants  as  they  were  in 
intellect,  in  acquirement,  and  in  prowess,  he  tow- 
ered above  them  all,  like  Saul  among  the  people 
of  Israel.  Where  all  were  great,  he  was  great- 
est. Though  naturally  less  bold  than  Luther,  he 
was  enabled  to  manifest  a  superhuman  bravery, 
and  was,  even  in  this  respect,  not  a  whit  behind 
that  noble  champion  of  the  truth.  "He  was,'' 
says  Bayle,  "  frighted  at  nothing."  Exquisitely 
sensitive  and  timid  by  constitution,  he  was,  from 

*  London  Christian  Observer,  1803,  pp.  143,  144. 


16  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

his  earliest  years,  obliged  to  bend  to  the  inflexible 
rule  of  duty,  and  thus  became  habituated  to  self- 
sacrifice.  When  God  called  him  by  his  grace  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  power  of  the  gos- 
pel, he  took  up  his  cross  to  follow  Jesus,  suffering 
the  loss  of  all  things,  and  not  counting  his  life 
dear  unto  him.  The  storm  of  persecution  was 
then  at  its  height.  Its  fiery  bolts  were  spreading 
consternation  and  alarm  throughout  all  France. 
The  Parliament  was  on  the  watch.  The  spies  of 
the  Sorbonne  and  of  the  monks  were  found  creep- 
ing into  churches  and  colleges,  and  even  into  the 
recesses  of  private  dwellings.  The  gens  d^armes 
patrolled  the  highways  to  hunt  down  every  favour- 
er of  the  reform.*  Then  it  was  that  Calvin  en- 
listed as  a  good  soldier  under  the  Captain  of  Sal- 
vation; buckled  on  the  armour  of  God,  and  threw 
himself  boldly  on  the  Lord's  side.  His  whole 
subsequent  course  proves  that,  through  the  grace 
of  God,  he  was  valorous  even  to  daring.  At 
the  risk  of  his  life,  he  ventured  back  to  Paris,  ia 
1532,  in  the  very  midst  of  abounding  persecution, 
that  he  might  defend  the  truth.  While  the  whole 
city  of  Geneva  was  in  a  ferment  of  rage,  he  hesi- 
tated not  to  suspend  the  celebration  of  the  com- 
munion, and  when  publicly  debarred  the  use  of 

*  See  D'Aubigne's  Hist,  of  the  Ref.  vol.  3.  p.  643.— 
Eng.  Ed. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  17 

the  pulpit,  to  appear  in  it  as  usual.  When  the 
plague  had  broken  out,  and  was  carrying  death 
and  destruction  around,  Calvin  was  found  ready  to 
offer  himself  as  a  chaplain  to  its  infected  victims. 
During  his  contests  with  the  libertine  faction,  he 
frequently  attended  the  summons  of  the  senate 
when  his  life  was  exposed  to  imminent  danger 
from  the  swords  of  the  contending  parties,  many 
of  whom  were  anxious  for  an  opportunity,  accord- 
ing to  their  summary  mode  of  punishment,  to 
throw  him  into  the  Rhone.  In  the  year  1553, 
through  the  influence  of  Bertelier,  the  grand 
council  of  two  hundred,  decreed  that  all  cases  of 
excommunication  should  be  vested  in  the  senate, 
from  which  body  Bertelier  obtained  two  letters  of 
absolution.  The  resolution  of  Calvin,  however, 
was  taken,  and  he  was  not  to  be  daunted.  He 
first  procured  the  senate  to  be  called  together, 
stated  his  views  and  his  determination,  and  en- 
deavoured, but  in  vain,  to  induce  them  to  revoke 
their  indulgence  granted  to  Bertelier.  He  re- 
ceived for  answer,  that  "the  senate  changed  no- 
thing in  their  former  decision."  After  preach- 
ing, however,  on  the  Sunday  morning  previously 
to  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  in 
a  solemn  tone,  and  with  uplifted  hand,  he  ut- 
tered severe  denunciations  against  profaners  of 
the  holy  mysteries :  "  and  for  my  own  part/'  said 


is  LIFE  AND    CHARACTER 

he,  "after  the  example  of  Chrysostom,  I  avow 
that  I  will  suffer  myself  to  be  slain  at  the  table, 
rather  than  allow  this  hand  to  deliver  the  sacred 
symbols  of  the  Lord's  body  and  blood  to  adjudged 
despisers  of  Grod."  This  was  uttered  with  such 
authority,  and  produced  such  an  effect,  that  Perrin 
himself  immediately  whispered  to  Bertelier  that 
he  must  not  present  himself  as  a  communicant. 
He  accordingly  withdrew;  and  the  sacred  ordi- 
nance, says  Beza,  "was  celebrated  with  a  profound 
silence,  and  under  a  solemn  awe  in  all  present,  as 
if  the  Deity  himself  had  been  visible  among 
them/' 

But  there  was  another  scene  which  occurred 
amid  those  factious  commotions  by  which  Calvin 
was  continually  distressed,  which  deserves  to  be 
immortalized.  Perrin  and  others  having  been 
censured  by  the  consistory,  and  failing  to  obtain 
redress  from  the  senate,  appealed  to  the  council 
of  two  hundred.  Disorder,  violence  and  sedition 
reigned  throughout  the  city.  On  the  day  preced- 
ing the  assembly,  Calvin  told  his  brethren  that  he 
apprehended  tumult,  and  that  it  was  his  inten- 
tion to  be  present.  Accordingly,  he  and  his  col- 
leagues proceeded  to  the  council-house,  where 
they  arrived  without  being  noticed.  Before  long, 
they  heard  loud  and  confused  clamours,  which 
were  instantly  increasing.     The  crowd  heaved  to 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  19 

and  fro  with  all  the  violeDce  of  a  stormy  ocean 
chafed  into  ungovernable  fury,  and  ready  to  over- 
whelm its  victims  in  destruction.  Calvin,  how- 
ever, like  Cresar,  cast  himself,  alone  and  unpro- 
tected, into  the  midst  of  the  seditious  multitude. 
They  stood  aghast  at  his  fearless  presence.  His 
friends  rallied  around  him.  Lifting  his  voice,  he 
told  them  he  came  to  oppose  his  body  to  their 
swords,  and  if  blood  was  to  flow,  to  offer  his  as 
the  first  sacrifice.  Rushing  between  the  parties, 
who  were  on  the  point  of  drawing  their  swords  in 
mutual  slaughter,  he  obtained  a  hearing;  ad- 
dressed them  in  along  and  earnest  oration;  and 
so  completely  subdued  their  evil  purposes,  that 
peace,  order,  and  tranquillity  were  immediately 
restored. 

Such,  by  the  grace  of  God,  was  the  weak,  tim- 
orous and  shrinking  Calvin.  Firm  as  the  moun- 
tains of  his  country,  he  stood  unmoved  amid  the 
storms  that  beat  around  him.  He  lifted  his  soul 
undaunted,  above  those  mists,  which,  to  all  others, 
shrouded  the  future  in  terrific  gloom,  and  ex- 
ercising a  faith  strong  in  the  promises  of  God, 
could  behold  afar  off  the  triumphs  of  the  cause. 
As  the  twelve  apostles,  when  left  to  themselves, 
fled  like  frightened  sheep  at  the  approach  of 
danger,  when  endued  with  power  from  on  high 
were  made  bold  as  lions,  so  did"  the  perfect  love 


20  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

of  Christ's  truth  and  cause  cast  out  all  fear  from 
the  bosom  of  Calvin.  Even  in  point  of  cour- 
age, therefore,  he  was  not  inferior  to  the  very 
chiefest  of  Reformers.  But  in  learning,  in 
sound  and  correct  judgment,  in  prudence  and 
moderation;  in  sagacity  and  penetration;  in  sys- 
tem and  order;  in  cultivation  and  refinement  of 
manners;  in  the  depth  and  power  of  his  intel- 
lect ;  Calvin  shone  forth  amid  the  splendid  galaxy 
of  illustrious  Reformers,  a  star  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude and  brightest  lustre. 

Such  was  the  man  whose  life  and  character  I 
now  review. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GENIUS  AND  THE  WORKS  OF  CALVIN. 

In  his  early  youth,  Calvin  manifested  that  genius 
and  eloquence  which  characterized  him  as  a  man. 
The  same  intensity  of  will,  the  same  rapidity  of 
thought,  the  same  retentiveness  of  memory,  the 
same  comprehensiveness  of  judgment,  which  ena- 
bled him  to  discharge  the  inconceivable  labours 
of  his  maturer  years,  gave  him  an  easy  victory  over 
all  his  competitors  for  college  fame,  so  that  it  be- 
came necessary  to  withdraw  him  from  the  ordinary 


OF   JOHN   CALVTN.  21 

ranks,  and  to  introduce  him  singly  to  the  higher 
walks  of  learning.  In  his  twenty-third  year,  he 
published  a  commentary  on  Seneca's  Treatise  De 
dementia,  full  of  learning  and  eloquence.  In 
his  twenty-fourth  year,  we  find  him  at  Paris,  pre- 
paring orations  to  be  delivered  by  the  rector  of 
the  university,  and  homilies  to  be  recited  to  their 
people  by  the  neighbouring  clergy.  During  the 
next  year,  he  gave  to  the  world  his  work  on  the 
sleep  of  the  soul  after  death,  in  which  he  mani- 
fests an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures, 
and  with  the  works  of  the  early  Fathers.  Thus, 
in  the  morning  of  his  life,  before  others  had 
awaked  from  the  dreams  of  boyhood,  or  realized 
the  responsibilities  of  maturer  life,  he  was  pro- 
nounced by  Scaliger,  who  was  indisposed  to  give 
praise  to  any,  to  be  the  most  learned  man  in 
Europe.  He  was  only  in  his  twenty-sixth  year, 
when  he  published  the  first  edition  of  the  Insti- 
tutes of  the  Christian  Religion,  with  an  address 
to  the  persecuting  King  of  France  which  has 
ever  been  esteemed  a  production  unrivalled  for 
classic  purity,  force  of  argument,  and  persuasive 
eloquence.  Designed  as  a  defence  of  the  calum- 
niated Reformers,  and  an  exposure  of  the  base  in- 
justice, tyranny,  and  corruption  of  their  persecu- 
tors, this  work  became  the  bu^ark  of  the  Reform- 
ation, and  the  stronghold  of  its  adherents.  It  was 
8 


22  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

made  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  Protestant  world,  and  the  text  hook  of  every 
student.  It  was  recommended  by  a  Convocation 
held  at  Oxford,  to  the  general  study  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation,  and  long  continued  to  be  the  standard 
work  in  theology  in  the  English  universities. 
The  Pope  makes  it  one  of  his  anathematizing 
charges  against  Queen  Elizabeth,  that  the  impious 
mysteries  and  Institutes,  according  to  Calvin,  are 
received  and  observed  by  herself,  and  even  en- 
joined upon  all  her  subjects  to  be  obeyed.* 
According  to  Schultingius,  the  English  gave 
these  Institutes  a  preference  to  the  Bible.  "The 
Bishops,"  he  says,f  "ordered  all  the  ministers, 
that  they  should  learn  them  almost  to  a  word; 
that  they  should  be  kept  in  all  the  churches  for 
public  use."  He  informs  us  also  that  they  were 
studied  in  both  the  universities;  that  in  Scotland 
the  students  of  divinity  began  by  reading  these 
Institutes;  that  at  Heidelberg,  Geneva,  Lausanne, 
and  in  all  the  Calvinistic  universities,  these  In- 
stitutes were  publicly  taught  by  the  professors; 
that  in  Holland,  ministers,  civilians,  and  the  com- 
mon people,  even  the  coachman  and  the  sailor, 
studied  this  work  with  great  diligence;  that  es- 

^  Burnet's  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  2,  p.  347. 
f  Waterman's  Life,  p.  137. 


OP  JOHN   CALVIN.  23 

teeming  it  as  a  pearl  of  great  price,  they  had  it 
bound  and  gilt  in  the  most  elegant  manner;  and 
that  it  was  appealed  to  as  a  standard  on  all  theo- 
logical questions.  According  to  this  writer,  and 
the  Cardinal  Legate  of  the  Pope,  these  Institutes 
were  considered  more  dangerous  to  the  cause  of  the 
papacy  than  all  the  other  writings  of  the  Reformers. 

As  an  author,  Calvin's  fame  will  go  on  bright- 
ening more  and  more.  The  Latin  language  was 
in  his  day  the  language  of  the  learned,  and  of 
books.  But  ^'what  Latin?"  asks  Monsieur  Vil- 
lers.  "  A  jargon  bearing  all  the  blemishes  of 
eleven  centuries  of  corruption  and  bad  taste."* 
And  yet  the  French  Encyclopedists  testify  that 
*'  Calvin  wrote  in  Latin  as  well  as  is  possible  in  a 
dead  language  ;"'|"  and  an  Episcopalian  of  Oxford 
in  1839  has  said,  that  ^'for  majesty,  when  the 
subject  required  it,  for  purity,  and  in  short,  every 
quality  of  a  perfect  style,  it  would  not  suffer  by  a 
comparison  with  that  of  Caesar,  Livy,  or  Taci- 
tus."t 

The  modern  idioms  also  were  at  that  time  in 
the  same  uncultivated  rude  state,  into  which  long 
want   of  use    had    plunged    them.      Now    what 

*  Villers'  Essay  on  the  Reformation,  p.  238. 
f  Article,  Geneva. 

J  Pref.  to  Calvin's  Comment,  on  the  Psalms,  vol.  1, 
p.  18. 


24  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

Lutlier  did  for  the  Grerman,  Calvin  accomplished 
for  the  French  language;  he  emancipated,  he 
renovated,  nay,  he  created  it.  The  French  of 
Calvin  became  eventually  the  French  of  Protes- 
tant France,  and  is  still  admired  for  its  purity  by 
the  most  skilful  critics.* 

Of  his  Institutes  we  have  already  spoken ;  '^  the 
most  remarkable  literary  work  to  which  the  Refor- 
mation gave  birth."  Not  less  valued  was  his 
Catechism,  now  too  much  neglected  and  unstu- 
died. He  published  it  in  French  and  Latin.  It 
was  soon  translated  into  the  German,  English, 
Dutch,  Scotch,  Spanish,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  lan- 
guages, and  was  made  one  of  the  standards  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  the  basis  of  the  early  Cate- 
chism in  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  model 
of  the  Catechism  published  by  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines. f 

The  judgment  of  his  great  opponent,  Arminius, 
upon  Calvin's  merits  as  a  commentator,  has  been 
sustained  by  the  verdict  of  three  centuries, 
and  his  present  advancing  reputation.  Arminius 
Bays,    "  after   the  Holy  Scriptures,  I  exhort  the 

*  D'Aubigne,  3,  639,  641.  French  Encyclop.  as 
above,  Taylor's  Biogr.  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth,  2.  p.  17. 

f  Waterman,  35.  Waterman's  edition  of  it,  Hart- 
ford, 1815.  Irving's  Confessions  of  Faith,  Appendix, 
and  Pref.  p.  124,  and  Neal's  Puritans,  1.  224, 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  25 

students  to  read  the  commentaries  of  Calvin,  for 
I  tell  them  that  he  is  incomparable  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture,  and  that  his  commentaries 
ouo;ht  to  be  held  in  crreater  estimation  than  all 
that  is  delivered  to  us  in  the  writings  of  the 
ancient  Christian  Fathers,  so  that  in  a  certain 
eminent  spirit  of  prophecy,  I  give  the  pre-emi- 
nence to  him  beyond  most  others,  indeed  beyond 
them  all."* 

But  the  labours  of  Calvin  were  as  multi- 
plied and  arduous  as  his  achievements  were 
marvellous.  The  Genevan  edition  of  his  works 
amounts  to  twelve  folio  volumes.  Besides  these, 
there  exist  at  Geneva  two  thousand  of  his  sermons 
and  lectures,  taken  down  from  his  mouth,  as  he 
delivered  them.  He  was  but  twenty-eight  years 
in  the  ministry  altogether.  He  was  always  poor, 
so  as  not  to  be  able  to  have  many  books.  The 
sufferings  of  his  body  from  headache,  weakness, 
and  other  complaints,  were  constant  and  intense, 
so  that  he  was  obliged  to  recline  on  his  couch  a 
part  of  every  day.  It  was  only  the  remnants  of 
his  time,  left  from  preaching  and  correspondence, 
he  devoted  to  study  and  writing.  And  yet, 
every  year  of  his  life  ma}^  be  chronicled  by  his 
various  works.     In  the  midst  of  convulsions  and 

*  In  Scott,  497.     See  the  similar  judgment  of  Scali- 

ger  in  Bayle,  265,  and  Beza,  120,  204. 
3* 


26  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

interruptions  of  every  kind,  he  pursued  his  com- 
mentaries on  the  Bible,  as  if  sitting  in  the  most 
perfect  cahn,  and  undisturbed  repose.  His  labours 
were  indeed  incredible,  and  beyond  all  comparison. 
He  allowed  himself  no  recreation  whatever.  He 
preached  and  wrote  with  headaches  that  would, 
says  Beza,  have  confined  any  other  person  to  bed. 
Calvin  was  a  member  of  the  Sovereign  Council 
of  Geneva,  and  took  a  great  part  in  the  delibera- 
tions, as  a  politician  and  legislator.  He  corrected 
the  civil  code  of  his  adopted  country.  He  cor- 
responded with  Protestants  throughout  Europe, 
both  on  religious  subjects  and  State  affairs ;  for 
all  availed  themselves  of  his  experience  in  difficult 
matters.  He  wrote  innumerable  letters  of  encour- 
agement and  consolation  to  those  who  were  per- 
secuted, imprisoned,  condemned  to  death  for  the 
Gospel's  sake.  He  was  a  constant  preacher,  de- 
livering public  discourses  every  day  in  the  week, 
and  on  Sunday  preaching  twice.  He  was  Professor 
of  Theology,  and  delivered  three  lectures  a  week. 
He  was  President  of  Consistory,  and  addressed  re- 
monstrances, or  pronounced  other  ecclesiastical  sen- 
tences against  delinquent  church  members.  He 
was  the  head  of  the  pastors;  and  every  Friday, 
in  an  assembly  called  the  Congregation,  he  pro- 
nounced before  them  a  long  discourse  on  the 
duties  of  the  evangelical  ministr3^     His  door  was 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  27 

constantly  open  to  refugees  from  France,  Eng- 
land, Poland,  Germany,  and  Italy,  who  flocked  to 
Geneva,  and  he  organized  for  these  exiled  Pro- 
testants, special  parishes.  His  correspondence, 
commentaries,  and  controversial  writings,  &c., 
"VTOuld  form  annually,  during  the  period  of  thirty- 
one  years,  between  two  and  three  octavo  volumes; 
and  yet  he  did  not  reach  the  age  of  fifty-five. 
When  laid  aside  by  disease  from  preaching,  he 
dictated  numberless  letters,  revised  for  the  last 
time  his  Christian  Institutes,  almost  re-wrote  his 
Commentary  on  Isaiah,  frequently  observing  that 
*'  nothing  was  so  painful  to  him  as  his  present 
idle  life."  And  when  urged  by  his  friends  to 
forbear,  he  would  reply,  "  Would  you  have  my 
Lord  to  find  me  idle  when  he  cometh  ?"  ''  0, 
the  power  of  Christian  faith !  and  of  the  human 
will !  Calvin  did  all  these  things — he  did  more 
than  twenty  eminent  doctors ;  and  he  had  feeble 
health,  a  frail  body,  and  died  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
five  years  !  We  bow  reverently  before  this  incom- 
parable activity,  this  unparalleled  devotion  of 
Calvin  to  the  service  of  his  Divine  Master  V 


28  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 


CHAPTER  ly. 

CALVIN  VINDICATED  FROM  THE  CHARGE  OP  AMBITION, 
AND  HIS  TRUE  GREATNESS  AND  WONDERFUL  INFLU- 
ENCE   SHOWN. 

Gifted  with  sucli  powers  of  mind,  and  stored 
with  such  treasures  of  knowledge,  who  can  ques- 
tion the  sincerity  of  Calvin's  adherence  to  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation?  He  has  been 
charged,  however,  with  ambitious  motives,  and 
with  aspiring  to  a  new  popedom.  Shameless 
calumny !  With  the  pathway  to  honour,  emolu- 
ment and  fame  opened  to  him,  did  he  not  choose, 
like  Moses,  ^'  rather  to  suffer  with  the  people  of 
God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  sea- 
son"? Did  he  not  resign  the  benefices  which 
he  held,  and  which  by  a  covert  conduct,  he  might 
still  have  retained,  and  throw  himself  poor  and 
unpatronized  among  the  houseless  wanderers  who 
were  everywhere  spoken  against  as  not  worthy  to 
live?  Did  he  not  design  to  spend  his  time  in 
retirement,  as  deeming  himself  unfit  to  take  part 
in  the  noble  strife?  Was  he  not  led  to  visit 
Geneva  by  the  invisible  hand  of  God,  who  had 
obstructed  his  route  through  Dauphiuy  and  Sa- 
voy to  Basle  or  Strasburgh,  where  he  meant  to  re- 
tire? Was  it  not  after  many  refusals,  and  the 
extremest  urgency,  he  consented  to  remain  in  that 


OP   JOHN   CALVIN.  29 

city?  And  when  appointed  Professor  of  Divinity 
by  the  consistory  and  magistrates,  did  be  not 
earnestly  decline  the  office  of  pastor,  whicli  tliey 
also  insisted  upon  his  undertaking?  When  ban- 
ished from  that  place  did  he  not  again  seek  re- 
tirement, and  "with  manifest  reluctance  resume 
the  duties  of  professor  and  of  pastor,  which  Bu- 
cer,  Capito,  Hedio,  and  the  Senate  of  Strasburgh 
conferred  upon  him?  And  when  the  whole  city 
of  Geneva  entreated  his  return  among  them,  did 
he  not  say,  that  ''  the  further  he  advanced  the 
more  sensible  he  was  how  arduous  a  charge  is  that 
of  governing  a  church,  and  that  there  was  no 
place  under  heaven  he  more  dreaded  than  Gene- 
va"? How  did  he  praise  and  exalt  Melancthon 
and  Luther  l^  How  did  he  bear  with  their  oppo- 
sition to  his  views,  and  their  silence,  when  he 
\frote  to  them  in  friendship !  Did  he  not,  when 
he  had  succeeded  in  founding  the  College  at  Ge- 
neva, prefer  Beza  to  the  presidency,  and  himself 
become  a  professor  under  him  ?f  Did  he  not  as 
late  as  1553,  in  a  letter  to  the  minister  of  Zurich, 
call  Farel  "  the  father  of  the  liberties  of  Geneva 
and  the  father  of  that  church"?  Ambitious !  "  a 
most  extraordinary  charge,  says  Beza,  to  be  brought 
against  a  man  who  chose  his  kind  of  life,  and  in 
this  state,  in  this  church,  which  I  might  tmly 

*  Scott's  Contin.  of  Milner,  vol.  3.  175,  414,  382,  387. 
f  Ibid.  p.  466. 


30  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

call  the  very  seat  of  poverty.'^  No !  the  love  of 
truth  and  of  the  cause  of  Christ,  was  the  master 
passion  of  his  soul.  He  realized  what  millions 
only  profess,  and  judging  with  the  apostle,  that  if 
Christ  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead,  and  that 
He  thus  died  that  they,  who  are  made  alive  by  his 
Spirit,  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves, 
he  consecrated  his  body,  soul  and  spirit  unto  God. 
"Since,"  says  he,  "I  remember  that  I  am  not 
my  own,  nor  at  my  own  disposal,  I  give  myself 
up,  tied  and  bound,  as  a  sacrifice  to  God."  When, 
therefore,  he  was  driven  from  Geneva  by  a  blind- 
ed faction,  amid  the  lamentations  of  his  whole 
flock,  he  could  say,  "  Had  I  been  in  the  service 
of  men,  this  would  have  been  a  poor  reward;  but 
it  is  well — I  have  served  him,  who  never  fails  to 
repay  his  servants  whatever  he  has  promised." 
"When  the  people  of  Strasburgh  consented  for  a 
season  to  lend  his  service  to  the  people  of  Gene- 
va, they  insisted  on  his  retaining  the  privileges  of 
a  citizen  and  the  stipend  they  had  assigned  him 
while  resident  amono;  them.  Was  it  ambition 
that  led  Calvin  resolutely  to  decline  the  generous 
oifer  ?  Was  it  ambition  which  led  him  to  settle 
at  Geneva,  where  his  stipend,  which  was  one 
hundred  crowns  a  year,  barely  supported  his  ex- 
istence, and  which  nevertheless  he  pertinaciously 
refused  to  have  increased  ?  Did  he  not  for  years 
abstain  from  all  animal  food  at  dinner,  rarely  eat- 


or   JOHN    CALVIN.  81 

ing  anything  after  breakfast  till  his  stated  hour 
for  supper — and  was  not  the  whole  amount  of  his 
remaining  property,  including  his  library,  which 
sold  high,  less  than  three  hundred  crowns?  Let 
the  infidel  Bayle,  who  was  struck  with  astonish- 
ment by  these  facts,  put  to  silence  the  ignorance 
of  foolish  men.* 

The  charge  of  ambition  is  founded  upon  the 
innate  and  surpassing  greatness  of  Calvin.  An 
exile  from  his  country,  without  money,  without 
friends,  he  raised  himself,  by  merit  alone,  to  a 
dominion  over  the  minds  of  men.  His  throne 
was  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  knew  him;  his 
sceptre,  truth;  his  laws,  the  silent  influence  of 
principle.  Consider  the  difficulties  which  he  en- 
countered at  Geneva.  When  he  arrived  at  that 
place,  in  1536,  the  city  had  neither  religious  nor 
political  organization.  Calvin  undertook  the  task 
of  giving  it  both.*)-  But  in  order  to  do  so,  he  had 
first  to  cleanse  the  Augean  stable,  for  to  this  the 
demoralized  condition  of  Geneva  might  be  well 
compared.  The  long  reign  of  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition, the  extreme  corruption  of  the  Romisb 
clergy,  the  relaxation  of  manners  consequent  upon 
intestine  feuds  and  open  war,  the  licentiousness, 
anarchy  and  insubordination  resulting  from  the 

*  Bayle's  Diet.— art.  Calvin.  BB.  and  Scott,  489. 
f  Dr.  Taylor's  Biography  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth,  vol. 
ii.  p.  24. 


32  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

first  excesses  of  unrestrained  freedom,  the  disor- 
ders occasioned  by  party  spirit  and  factious  dema- 
gogues, and  the  secret  attachment  of  many  to  the 
discarded  system  of  popery — these  were  causes 
sufficient  to  lead  to  the  unparalleled  dissoluteness 
of  a  city,  where  great  numbers  of  houses  of  ill 
fame  were  recognized  and  licensed  by  the  magis- 
trates, with  a  regular  female  superior,  who  bore 
the  name  of  Reine  du  Bordel.  Calvin  proved 
himself  to  be  not  only  a  theologian  of  the  highest 
order,  but  also  a  politician  of  astonishing  sagacity. 
Morals  became  pure.  The  laws  of  the  state  were 
revised  and  thoroughly  changed.  The  ecclesias- 
tical tribunals  were  made  independent  of  the  civil, 
and  a  system  of  the  strictest  discipline  established. 
The  sect  of  the  Libertines  was  overthrown.  The 
most  powerful  factions  were  dispersed.  The  ene- 
mies of  truth  and  purity,  though  often  triumph- 
ant, and  always  violent,  were  made  to  lick  the 
dust,  so  that  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  came  to 
an  end,  and  righteousness  prevailed.  The  effects 
of  Calvin's  influence,  says  a  recent  and  prejudiced 
historian,  "after  the  lapse  of  ages,  are  still  visible 
in  the  industry  and  intellectual  tone  of  Geneva.'^* 
From  having  been  a  small  and  unimportant  town, 
Geneva  became  the  focus  of  light,  the  centre  of 
attraction,  and  the  source  of  incalculable  influence 
upon  the  destinies  of  Europe  and  the  world.    Cal- 

*Hist.  of  Switzerland.    Lond.  1832;  p.  227. 


OF    JOHN   CALVIN.  33 

vin's  seminary  supplied  teachers  and  ministers  to 
most  of  the  Reformed  states  of  Europe.  Geneva 
was  honoured  with  the  title  of  the  mother  of  Pro- 
testantism. Lodgings  could  with  difficulty  be 
found  for  the  multitude  of  students  that  came  to 
sit  at  the  feet  of  the  man  whom  Melancthon  called 
"the  divine."  It  was  to  this  "metropolis  of 
Presbyterianism'^  all  the  proscribed  exiles  who 
were  driven  from  other  countries  by  the  intoler- 
ance of  Popery,  "  came  to  get  intoxicated  with 
presbytery  and  republicanism/'  to  carry  back  with 
them  those  seeds  which  have  sprung  up  in  the  re- 
public of  Holland,  the  commonwealth  of  England, 
the  glorious  revolution  of  1688,  and  our  own  Ame- 
rican confederation. 

Would  you  see  the  amazing  power  and  influ- 
ence of  Calvin,  read  the  history  of  his  triumph 
over  Bolsec,  one  of  those  hydras  of  faction  that 
successively  shot  up  their  revegetating  heads  in 
Geneva.*     Behold  Troillet,  another  of  his  ene- 

*  Scott,  ibid.  404,  and  Waterman,  70.  "  Those,  says 
Rousseau,  who  regard  Calvin  as  a  mere  theologian,  are 
ill-acquainted  with  the  extent  of  his  genius.  The  pre- 
paration of  our  wise  Edicts,  in  which  he  had  a  great 
part,  does  him  as  much  honour  as  his  Institutes.  What- 
ever revolution  time  may  effect  in  our  worship,  while 
the  love  of  country  and  of  liberty  shall  exist  among  us, 
the  memory  of  that  great  man  shall  never  cease  to  be 
blessed." 

4 


34  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

mies,  when  about  to  die,  sending  for  Calvin,  that 
he  might  confess  his  faults,  declaring  that  he 
could  not  die  in  peace  without  obtaining  his  for- 
giveness. Behold  him  at  Berne,  debating  against 
Oastalio  and  others  with  such  power  that  his  op- 
ponents were  henceforth  excluded  from  that  Can- 
ton. Thus,  like  another  Hercules,  armed  with  the 
simple  club  of  God's  holy  word,  did  he  destroy  the 
numerous  monsters  who  threatened  to  overthrow 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

How  wonderful  was  the  influence,  under  God, 
of  this  single  man !  The  Reformed  Churches  in 
France  adopted  his  confession  of  faith,  and  were 
modelled  after  the  ecclesiastical  order  of  Geneva. 
To  him  England  is  indebted  for  her  articles,  for  a 
purified  liturgy,  and  for  all  her  psalmody,*  To 
him  Scotland  owes  her  Knox,  her  Buchanan,  and 
her  Melville,  her  ecclesiastical  system,  and  all  that 
has  made  her  proudly  eminent  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  To  him  Northern  Ireland  is  indebt- 
ed for  the  industry,  manufactures,  education,  reli- 
gion, and  noble  spirit  of  independence  and  free- 
dom which  she  received  from  her  first  settlers,  the 
followers  of  Calvin. t  To  his  letters,  dedications, 
and  exhortations,  every  nation  of  any  eminence  in 

*  Sibson  in  Beza's  Life,  Am.  ed.  pp.  Ill,  112. 
f  Waterman,  p.  34.     Scott,  ibid.  370.     Beza's  Life, 
p.  101.  ► 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  35 

Lis  day,  was  accustomed  to  pay  profound  respect. 
These  writings  had  a  salutary  influence  even  upon 
the  Romish  church.  Her  shame  was  excited, 
abuses  were  abandoned,  discipline  enforced,  and 
the  necessity  of  a  reformation  confessed.  Nor  was 
this  influence  merely  ecclesiastical  or  political. 
The  increase  of  his  own  church  was,  we  are  told, 
wonderful,  and  he  could  say,  even  during  his  life, 
"I  have  numberless  spiritual  children  throughout 
the  world."  His  contemporaneous  reputation  was 
even  greater  than  his  posthumous  fame,  because 
all  parties  united  in  rendering  him  honour.  Many 
Komanists,  says  Bayle,  "would  do  him  justice  if 
they  durst.''  Scaliger  said,  he  was  "the  greatest 
wit  the  world  had  seen  since  the  apostles,"  while 
the  Romish  bishop  of  Valence  called  him  "  the 
greatest  divine  in  the  world."*  The  Romanists 
too  have  been  forced  to  acknowledge  the  falsity  of 
their  infamous  calumnies  published  against  his 
morals.f  Such  was  the  terror  he  had  inspired  in 
this  great  apostasy,  that  when  a  false  report  of  his 
death  was  circulated,  they  decreed  a  public  proces- 
sion, and  returned  thanks  to  God  in  their  churches 
for  his  death.  J  Every  pious,  eminent,  and  learned 
Reformer  was  his  friend.    It  was  the  power  of  his 

*Bayle'8  Diet.    Vol.  ii.  p.  268;  note  X. 

t  Ibid.  p.  265,  and  note  2.  J  Waterman,  p.  135. 


36  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

reputation,  proclaiming  abroad  their  own  con- 
demnation, that  led  the  General  Assembly  of 
Geneva  to  adopt  a  decree  for  his  return — to  ac- 
knowledge the  great  injury  they  had  done  him, 
and  implore  forgiveness  of  Almighty  God — to 
send  an  honourable  deputation  to  him,  to  persuade 
him  to  accept  their  invitation — to  go  forth  in 
throngs  to  welcome  his  return — and  to  allow  him 
a  secretary  at  the  public  expense.  In  short,  it 
would  be  no  difl&cult  matter,  as  has  been  said,  to 
prove,  that  there  is  not  a  parallel  instance  upon 
record,  of  any  single  individual  being  equally  and 
so  unequivocally  venerated,  for  the  union  of  wis- 
dom and  piety,  both  in  England,  and  by  a  large 
body  of  the  foreign  churches,  as  John  Calvin. 

The  full  extent  to  which  the  living  influence  of 
Calvin  extended,  is  only  now  being  fully  demon- 
strated. ''A  few  days  before  he  expired,  in  1564, 
Calvin  was  in  his  library  with  Theodore  de  Beza, 
and,  showing  him  the  immense  correspondence  he 
had  kept  up,  for  above  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
with  the  most  evangelical  Christians  and  the  high- 
est personages  of  Europe,  proposed  to  him  to  pub- 
lish it  for  the  Church's  instruction.  This  wish 
of  the  dying  Reformer  was  but  tardily  and  par- 
tially accomplished  in  the  sixteenth  century;  but 
a  literary  man,  and  a  Christian  of  our  days,  Mr. 
Jules  Bonnet,  Docteur  es  Lettres,  has  undertaken, 


OP  JOHN   CALVIN.  37 

after  the  lapse  of  three  hundred  years,  to  fulfil 
Calvin^s  wish;  and  five  years  spent  in  travelling 
in  Switzerland,  in  France,  and  in  Germany,  with 
careful  studies  and  researches  in  the  libraries  of 
these  difi"erent  countries,  have  enabled  him  to 
form  a  collection  which  will  throw  a  fresh  light 
on  the  history  of  the  Reformation.  This  corres- 
pondence, which  terminates  only  on  Calvin's 
death-bed,  embraces  every  period  of  his  life,  and 
contains  at  the  same  time  the  familiar  efi"usions  of 
friendship,  grave  theological  statements,  and  ele- 
vated views  of  the  politics  of  Protestantism.  We 
see  in'  it  the  Reformer  reproving,  with  all  respect 
and  dignity,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  sister  of  Francis  I.,  exhorting  the  young 
King  of  England,  Edward  VI.,  as  a  Christian 
Mentor  speaking  to  his  Telemachus,  conversing 
with  Melancthon,  Bullinger,  Knox,  Conde,  Co- 
ligny,  the  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  daughter  of  Louis 
XII.,  Jeanne  d' Albret,  mother  of  Henry  IV.;  we 
see  him  withstanding  libertines,  strengthening 
martyrs,  upholding  all  the  churches. 

"  This  important  publication  appears  to  be*  a  re- 
markable event  in  the  history  of  the  Church  and 
of  theology.  As  documents,  these  letters  will 
compel  the  odious  calumnies  which  have  been  cir- 

*  Says  D'Aubigne. 

4* 


38  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

culated,  to  yield  to  the  impartial  witness  of  truth. 
We  shall  learn  from  Calvin's  own  mouth  what  his 
thoughts,  wishes,  and  pursuits  were,  and  we  shall 
find  in  his  most  familiar  writings  the  secret  of  the 
revolution  of  which  he  was,  in  this  world,  the 
instrument.  Certainly  Luther  is  the  first  Reform- 
er; but  if  Luther  laid  the  foundation,  Calvin  built 
thereon.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  we  consider  the 
Lutheran  Reformation  imperfect  in  some  respects, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  Calvinistic  imperfect  also, 
I  agree  to  it;  but  powerful,  more  complete,  better 
organized,  and  full  of  action.  If  we  compare  the 
Lutheran  nations  of  Germany,  rich  in  intelligence, 
in  missionary  zeal,  but  who  are  still  far  from  un- 
derstanding and  practising  some  questions,  in  par- 
ticular that  of  religious  liberty,  with  the  nations 
which  have  passed  chiefly  under  Calvin's  influ- 
ence— Holland,  Scotland,  England,  the  United 
States — these  free  people,  some  of  whom  stretch 
their  sceptres  over  all  seas,  and  to  the  very  ex- 
tremities of  the  world,  it  is  impossible  not  to  per- 
ceive that  Luther  and  Calvin  are  the  greatest  men 
of  modern  times;  the  most  eminent  Christians 
since  St.  Paul;  at  least,  if  we  consider  their  influ- 
ence on  the  human  mind.  How,  then,  could  we 
fail  to  study  the  familiar  letters  of  Calvin,  that 
most  powerful  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
Lordr^ 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  89 

This  correspondence  has  already  attracted  the 
attention  of  eminent  men.  In  particular  the 
Paris  Journal  des  Debats  has  devoted  an  interest- 
ing article  to  the  subject,  from  which  we  quote 
the  following  lines : 

'^Let  us  bring  before  our  minds  the  state  of 
excitement  in  which  the  ardent  disciple  of  the 
Reformation  (Calvin)  must  have  lived,  when  from 
Paris,  from  Lyons,  from  Chambery,  he  received 
tidings  of  the  tortures  endured  by  his  co-religion- 
ists. History  has  not  sufficiently  dwelt  upon  the 
atrocity  of  these  persecutions,  nor  on  the  resigna- 
tion, the  courage,  the  serenity  of  the  sufferers. 
There  are  there  pages  worthy  of  the  early  ages  of 
the  Church;  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  simple  his- 
tory, composed  from  the  documents  and  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  times  of  these  sublime  strug- 
gles, would  equal  in  beauty  the  ancient  martyr- 
ology.  Calvin's  voice  in  these  moments  of  trial 
attains  a  fulness  and  elevation  truly  marvellous. 
His  letters  to  the  martyrs  of  Lyons,  of  Chambery, 
to  the  prisoners  of  Chatelet,  appear  an  echo  from 
the  heroic  days  of  Christianity;  pages  from  the 
writings  of  Tertullian  and  Cyprian.  I  confess 
that  before  I  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Bonnet  to 
this  sanguinary  scene  of  martyrdom,  I  had  nei- 
ther understood  the  nobleness  of  the  victims  nor 
the  cruelty  of  their  executioners.'' 


40  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 


CHAPTER  V. 

CALVIN   VINDICATED     FROM     THE     CHARGE    OF     ILLIBER- 
ALITY,    INTOLERANCE,    AND    PERSECUTION. 

But  we  will  pass  on  to  another  view  of  Calvin's 
character.  A  truly  great  mind,  conscious  of  its 
own  resources,  and  more  fully  sensible  than  others 
of  the  difficulties  surrounding  every  subject  of  hu- 
man speculation,  is  always  calm,  and  tempered 
with  moderation,  equally  free  from  bigotry  and 
indifference.  It  has  therefore  been  attempted 
to  deprive  Calvin  of  his  glory,  by  the  allegation 
that  he  was  illiberal,  extravagant,  and  intolerant — 
a  furious  bigot  and  extreme  ultraist — and  the 
most  heartless  of  persecutors.  Such  charges,  in 
such  an  age  and  country  as  this,  are,  it  is  well 
known,  the  most  offensive,  and  the  most  sure  to 
cover  with  obloquy,  the  man  and  the  cause  with 
which  they  are  identified.  But  the  very  reverse 
we  affirm  to  be  the  truth  in  this  case.  Calvin 
was  liberal  in  his  views,  moderate  in  his  spirit, 
and  tolerant  in  his  disposition. 

Who  had  endured  greater  calumny,  reproach, 
and  hatred,  at  the  hands  of  the  Romanists,  than 
Calvin  ?  and  yet  he  allowed  the  validity  of  Ro- 
mish baptism,  and  the  claims  of  Rome  to  the 
character  of  a  Church,  not  merely  as  comprising 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  41 

many  of  God's  elect  children,  but  as  having  "the 
remains  of  a  church  continuing  with  them."* 
Against  whom  did  Luther  and  his  coadjutors  ut- 
ter severer  lan2:uao:e,  than  against  Calvin  in  refer- 
ence  to  the  sacramentarian  controversy?  And 
whom  did  Calvin  more  delight  to  honour  than 
Luther?  How  did  he  study  to  cover  the  coals  of 
this  pernicious  discord,  and  if  possible,  entirely  to 
quench  them  ?  "I  wish  you,"  he  says,  writing 
to  Bullinger  and  the  other  pastors  of  Zurich, 
against  whom  Luther  had  used  an  inexcusable 
wantonness  of  language,  reproach,  and  anathema, 
^'I  wish  you  to  recall  these  things  to  your  mind  : 
how  great  a  man  Luther  is,  and  with  how  great 
gifts  he  excels;  also,  with  what  fortitude  and  con- 
stancy of  mind,  with  what  efficacy  of  learning,  he 
hath  hitherto  laboured  and  watched  to  destroy  the 
kingdom  of  antichrist,  and  to  propagate,  at  the 
same  time,  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  I  often  say, 
If  he  should  call  me  a  devil,  I  hold  him  in  such 
honour,  that  I  would  acknowledge  him  an  eminent 
servant  of  God."  And  does  not  the  whole  Pro- 
testant world  now,  including  the  Lutheran  Church 
itself,  acknowledge  that  the  doctrine  of  Calvin  on 

*  "However  broken  and  deformed  it  may  be,  a  church 
of  some  sort  exists,"  and  in  proof  of  this,  he  quotes 
2  Thess.  ii.  4,  See  his  letters  to  Socinus  in  1549,  and 
Scott,  ibid.  400. 


42  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 

the  Lord's  Supper  is  true,  scriptural,  and  catholic, 
and  that  Luther's  was  as  certainly  extravagant 
and  wrong  ? 

In  how  many  ways  did  he  endeavour  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  churches ;  to 
lead  to  compromise  on  matters  of  order  and  disci- 
pline; to  encourage  submission  to  ceremonies 
and  forms  which  were  in  themselves  '^fooleries," 
rather  than  produce  rupture,  and  give  occasion  to 
the  enemy  to  blaspheme; — to  prevent  schism,  dis- 
union, and  alienation, — and  to  bind  together  with 
the  cords  of  love  the  whole  brotherhood  of  the 
Reformed  Churches!  ''Keep  your  smaller  differ- 
ences," says  he,  addressing  the  Lutheran  churches, 
''let  us  have  no  discord  on  that  account;  but  let 
us  march  in  one  solid  column,  under  the  banners 
of  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  and  with  undi- 
vided counsels  pour  the  legions  of  the  cross  upon 
the  territories  of  darkness  and  of  death."  "I 
should  not  hesitate  to  cross  ten  seas,  if  by  this 
means  holy  communion  might  prevail  among  the 
members  of  Christ." 

Nothing  can  be  more  liberal  than  his  views  as 
to  the  character  of  other  churches.  "Let  the 
ministers,  therefore,"  he  says,*  "by  whom  God 
permits  the  Church  to  be  governed,  be  what  they 

*  Letter  to  Farel  from  Strasburgh,  1538,  in  Water- 
man, pp.  249,  250. 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  43 

may;  if  the  signs  of  the  true  Church  are  perceived, 
it  will  be  better  not  to  separate  from  their  com- 
munion. Nor  is  it  an  objection,  that  some  impure 
doctrines  are  there  delivered;  for  there  is  scarce 
any  church  which  retains  none  of  the  remains  of 
ignorance.  It  is  sufficient  for  us,  that  the  doc- 
trine, on  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  founded, 
should  hold  its  place  and  influence."  Hence  has 
it  happened  that  the  most  absurd  attempts  have 
been  made,  even  in  our  own  day,  to  represent 
Calvin  as  the  friend  and  defender  of  Prelacy, 
which  he  spent  his  life  in  opposing — that  liberal- 
ity which  made  him  willing  to  bear,  for  a  time, 
with  the  '^ tolerable  fooleries"  of  the  ritual  of  the 
English  Church,  being  most  ungenerously  inter- 
preted into  a  warm  and  hearty  approval  of  its  un- 
scriptural  forms  which  Calvin  as  openly  and  con- 
stantly condemned.* 

Equally  liberal  and  moderate  was  Calvin  in  his 
doctrinal  tenets.  He  steered  the  safe  and  middle 
course  between  Antinomianism  and  Arminianism 
— and  between  Fatalism  and  Latitudinarianism. 
No  one  has  ever  been  more  belied.  Garbled  ex- 
tracts have  been  made  to  give  expression  to  views 

*  See  Calvin's  views  on  the  subject  of  Episcopacy, 
fully  vindicated  and  established,  by  Dr.  Miller,  in  his 
recent  letters  to  Bishop  Ives,  and  also  in  his  work  on 
the  Christian  Ministry,  2d  ed.  8vo. 


44  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

which  their  very  context  was  designed  to  overthrow. 
Doctrines  have  been  fathered  upon  Calvin,  which 
had  existed  in  the  church  from  the  Apostles' 
days,  and  in  every  age.  And  erroneous  opinions, 
both  doctrinal  and  practical,  have  been  attributed 
to  him  which  he  spent  his  life  in  opposing,  and  of 
which  no  confutation  could  be  found  more  tri- 
umphant than  what  is  given  in  his  own  works. 
But  while  these  are  unknown  or  unread,  youthful 
bigots,  and  learned  fools,  expose  their  shame  by 
retailing  and  perpetuating  stereotyped  abuse.  It 
were  enough  to  repel  all  such  criminations  by  the 
fact,  that  for  every  doctrine  Calvin  appeals  to  the 
Bible — that  he  exalts  the  Bible  above  all  human 
authority,  including  his  own — that  he  claims  for  all 
men  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  judgment — and 
that  he  charges  all  men  to  search  the  Scriptures, 
and  thus  to  try  his  doctrines  whether  they  be  of 
God. 

And  as  this  charge  is  based  by  many  upon  the 
doctrines  of  predestination,  decrees,  and  divine 
sovereignty,  let  it  be  remembered  that  these  were 
not  peculiar  to  Calvin,  but  were  common  to  him, 
with  the  greatest  divines  of  all  aires,  and  with  all 
the  Reformers.  He  was,  too,  a  Sub-  and  not 
a  Supra-lapsarian,  teaching  that  God's  decrees 
had  reference  to  man's  foreseen  condition  and 
necessities,  and  were  not  the  causes  of  them.    He 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  45 

does  not  represent  Grod  as  arbitrary.  He  utterly 
repudiates,  and  constantly  opposes,  fatalism.*  He 
always  inculcates  the  duty  and  necessity  of  using 
means;  condemning  the  confounding  of  "neces- 
sity with  compulsion/'  and  rejecting  the  supposi- 
tion as  absurd,  that  "man's  being  actuated  by 
Grod  is  incompatible  with  his  being  at  the  same 
time  active  himself."^  He  teaches  that  the 
means  of  grace,  such  as  exhortations,  precepts, 
and  reproofs,  are  not  confined  to  those  who  are 
already  pious,  but  are  God's  means  of  awakening 
the  careless,  converting  the  sinner,  and  leaving  the 
impenitent  without  excuse.  He  teaches,  there- 
fore, that  sinners  are  constantly  to  be  urged  to  at- 
tendance upon  Grod's  ordinances,  and  to  the  dili- 
gent and  prayerful  use  of  all  the  means  by  which 
they  may  be  convinced,  converted,  and  saved. J 
He  strenuously  upholds  the  free  agency  and  re- 
sponsibility of  man. §  He  rejects  the  doctrine  of 
reprobation,  as  it  is  vulgarly  believed,  since  he 
attributes  the  final  condemnation  of  the  wicked  to 
themselves,  and  not  to  any  arbitrary  decree  of  God.|| 

*  Institutes,  B.  I.,  ch.  xvi.  ||  8,  9. 
t  Ibid.  B.  II.,  ch.  iii.  §  5,  and  B.  I.  ch.  xviii.  g  2. 
X  Instit.  B.  II.,  ch.  v.  |§  1,  4,  5,  &c. 
§  See  numerous  extracts  in  proof,  in  Scott'  s  Contin.  ol 
Milner,  vol.  ii.  pp.  508,  521,  525,  379,  385,  405. 

II  Instit.  B.  III.,  ch.  xxiv.,  is  entitled  ''Election  Con- 
5 


46  LITE  AND   CHARACTER 

While  Calvin  held  firmly  to  the  great  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  imputation,  and  to  the  doc- 
trine of  a  limited  atonement,  he  nevertheless  re- 
jected all  such  views  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  as 
would  make  him  to  have  sufi'ered  just  so  much  for 
each  one  that  was  to  be  saved  by  him,  so  that  if 
more  or  fewer  had  been  appointed  unto  salvation, 
he  must  have  shed  accordingly  more  or  fewer 
drops  of  his  precious  blood,  and  sufi"ered  more  or 

firmed  (i.  e.,  made  surely  known  to  ns.  Scott,  ibid.  p. 
577)  by  the  divine  calling,  the  just  destruction  to  which 
the  reprobate  are  destined,  procured  hy  themselves. ^^  In 
the  epistle  of  the  pastors  of  Geneva,  (Calv.  Epist.  p. 
63-65,  in  Scott  406,)  we  find  reprobation  most  off'en- 
sively  spoken  of  as  proceeding  "from  the  bare  will  and 
pleasure  of  God" — nudo  Dei  placito — when  no  such 
thing  as  we  should  understand  by  the  words  is  meant. 
This  appears  from  what  presently  follows:  "It  is  be- 
yond controversy,  that  the  perdition  of  men  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  their  own  wickedness;"  and  that  the  punish- 
ments which  God  inflicts  on  them  are  "deserved."  It 
would  seem  that  all  which  they  mean,  and  which  Cal- 
vin generally,  at  least,  means  by  such  obnoxious  lan- 
guage, is,  that  among  a  fallen  and  guilty  race,  God,  ac- 
cording to  his  sovereign  pleasure,  chooses  whom  he  will 
to  bring  to  salvation,  and  whom  (according  to  the  title  of 
Calvin's  work  on  Predestination)  he  will  "leave  in  their 
ruin."  This  appears  to  be  the  constant  meaning  of 
Calvin,  in  the  work  which  he  now  published  on  these 
subjects. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  47 

less  severe  dying  pangs.  Calvin  on  the  contrary, 
recognized  in  the  death  of  Christ,  a  sacrifice  ade- 
quate to  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  which 
made  provision  for  all  whom  it  should  please  the 
Father  to  enable  and  dispose  to  avail  themselves 
of  it.* 

He  therefore  fully  and  frequently  proclaims  the 
■universality  of  the  gospel  promises,  and  the  duty 
of  all  to  receive  and  embrace  them."]"  While  he 
teaches  that  original  sin  is  natural,  he  denies  that 

*  On  Romans  v.  18, — "The  free  gift  came  on  all  men 
to  justification  of  life,"  he  remai'ks,  "The  apostle  makes 
it  a  grace  or  farour  common  to  all,  because  it  is  pro- 
posed (or  set  forth)  to  all ;  not  because  it  is  actually 
extended  to  (conferred  on)  all.  For,  though  Christ 
suflFered  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  is  offered 
by  the  mercy  of  God  to  all  indifferently,  (without 
exception  or  distinction,)  yet  all  do  not  embrace  him." 
On  1  John  ii.  2,  he  says:  "Christ  suffered  sufficiently 
for  the  whole  world,  but  efficaciously  only  for  the 
elect."  And  finally,  as  early  as  the  year  1535,  in  a 
preface  to  the  New  Testament  in  French,  he  says: — 
"At  the  appointed  time  the  Messiah  came,  and  amply 
performed  whatever  was  necessary  for  the  redemption 
of  all.  The  benefit  was  not  confined  to  Israel  alone:  it 
was  rather  to  be  extended  to  the  whole  human  race ; 
because  by  Christ  alone  the  whole  human  race  was  to 
be  reconciled  to  God." 

f  Instit.  B.  Ill,,  ch.  iii   ^  21,  and  ch.  xxii.  g  10,  and 
ch.  xxiv.  l^  6,  8,  16,  17,  and  Scott,  p.  597. 


48  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

it  originated  from  nature.     ''We  deny,"  says  he, 
''that  it  proceeded  from  nature,  to  signify  that  it 
is  rather  an  adventitious  quality  or  accident,  than 
a  substantial  property,  originally  innate,  yet  we 
call  it  natural,  that  no  one  may  suppose  it  to  be 
contracted  by  every  individual  from  corrupt  habit, 
whereas  it  prevails  over  all  by  hereditary  right.'' 
"  No  other  explanation  therefore  can  be  given  of 
our  being  said  to  be  dead  in  Adam,  than  that  his 
transgression  not  only  procured  misery  and  ruin 
for  himself,  but  also  precipitated  our  nature  into 
similar  destruction,  and  that  not  by  his  personal 
guilt  as  an  individual,  which  pertains  not  to  us, 
but  because  he  infected  all  his  descendants  with 
the  corruption  into  which  he  had  fallen."     And 
again — "  We  are,  on  account  of  this  very  corrup- 
tion, considered  as  convicted  and  justly  condemned 
in  the  sight  of  God,  to  whom  nothing  is  accepta- 
ble but  righteousness,  innocence,  and  purity.   And 
this  liability  to  punishment  arises  not  from  the 
delinquency  of  another,  for  when  it  is  said  that 
the   sin   of  Adam  renders   us  obnoxious  to  the 
divine  judgment,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  as  if 
we,   though  innocent,  were  undeservedly  loaded 
with  the  guilt  of  his  sin,  but  because  we  are  all 
subject  to  a  curse,  in  consequence  of  his  transgres- 
sion, he  is  therefore  said  to  have  involved  us  iu 
guilt.     Nevertheless  we  derive  from  him  not  only 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  49 

the  punishment,  but  also  the  pollution  to  which 
the  punishment  is  justly  due."* 

He  allows  that  even  as  fallen,  '^  the  soul  of  man 
is  irradiated  with  a  beam  of  divine  light,  so  that 
it  is  never  wholly  destitute  of  some  little  flame,  or 
at  least  a  spark  of  it,"  though  ''it  cannot  compre- 
hend Grod  by  that  illumination,"  the  remaining 
image  of  G-od  being  but  the  ruin  of  the  original, 
and  "  confused,  mutilated,  and  defiled. "f 

His  doctrines,  therefore,  as  he  frequently  shows, 
cut  up  by  the  roots  all  presumption,  prevent  des- 
pair, encourage  hope,  and  in  an  eminent  degree 
enforce  and  cherish  holiness  both  of  heart  and 
life. I  His  doctrines  also  make  special  provision 
for  the  salvation  of  all  elect  children,  whether  bap- 
tized or  uubaptized,  whether  Christian  or  pagan ; 
nor  did  he  ever  discountenance  the  idea  that  all 
children  dying  in  infancy  may  be  regarded  as 
among  the  elect,  and  therefore  as  assuredly  saved.  § 

*  Instit.  B.  II.  ch.  i.  ^|  10,  11,  and  B.  II.  ch.  1,  ^|  6,  8. 

t  Ibid.  B.  I.  cli.  XV.  §H  &  6;  B.  II.  ch.  ii.  §  12,  and 
B.  II.  ch.  1,  ^^  13,  19,  22,  24,  and  ch.  iii.  ^  4. 

%  Instit.  B.  III.  ch.  xxiv.  ^  4,  and  ch.  xiv.  §§  17—21. 

^  In  his  Instit.  B.  IV.  ch.  xvi.  "where  he  argues  against 
those  "who  afl&rmed  that  regeneration  cannot  take  place 
in  early  infancy — ''God,"  says  he,  "  adopts  infants  and 
washes  them  in  the  blood  of  his  Son,"  and  "  they  are  re- 
garded by  Christ  as  among  his  flock."  Again,  (Instit. 
B.  IV.  ch.  xvi.  ^  31,  p.  461,  see  also  pp.  435,  436,  451,) 
5* 


50  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

He  also  approved  the  baptism  of  the  infants  of  all 
baptized  parents,  whether  communicants  or  not, 
recognizing  the  covenant  right  of  such  children  to 
the  seal  of  those  privileges  to  which  thej  have  a 
natural  and  necessary  claim. 

I  may  also  mention,  as  interesting  at  this  time, 
that  Calvin  approved  of  a  public  form  for  the  in- 
troduction of  professors  into  the  Christian  church.* 

Now  let  these  views  of  Calvin  be  compared  with 
those  of  Luther  and  Melancthon  on  the  subject  of 
predestination,  or  with  those  of  Beza,  his  own  co- 
adjutor; or  with  those  of  the  English  Reformers 
and  the  Lambeth  articles;  and  will  they  not  be 
allowed,  by  every  impartial  judge,  to  be  at  once 
liberal,  moderate,  and  wise?  While  these  doc- 
trines, by  which  alone  many  know  Calvin,  were 
not  peculiar  to  him,  it  is  also  true  that  they  were 
not  dwelt  upon  with  any  undue  prominence,  but 

he  says  of  John  iii.  36,  "Christ  is  not  speaking  of  the 
general  guilt  in  which  all  the  descendants  of  Adam  are 
involved,  but  only  threatening  the  despisers  of  the  gospel 
who  proudly  and  obstinately  reject  the  grace  that  is  of- 
fered them ;  and  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  infants.  I 
likewise  oppose  a  contrary  argument ;  all  those  whom 
Christ  blesses  are  exempted  from  the  curse  of  Adam  and 
the  wrath  of  God;  and  it  is  known  that  infants  were 
blessed  by  him ;  it  follows  that  they  are  exempted  from 
death." 

*  Ins  tit.  B.  IV.  ch.  xix.  §H»  13. 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  51 

insubordination  to  other  subjects.*  And  wben  the 
unparalleled  consistency  with  which,  through  his 
whole  life,  Calvin  continued  to  maintain  the  same 
views,  is  contrasted  with  the  variation  of  others, 
how  illustriously  do  they  exhibit  the  superiority  of 
his  intellectual  powers.  Not  that  he  was  infalli- 
ble— far  from  it.  He  too  was  human,  fallible,  and 
chargeable  with  error.  In  making  assurance  of 
salvation  necessary  to  a  true  faith — in  questioning 
the  peculiar  and  permanent  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath 
day — in  supposing  that  Christ  descended  to  hell, 
or  endured  on  the  cross  the  torments  of  hell — 
Calvin  certainly  erred,  and  is  not  by  any  to  be  be- 
lieved or  followed. f 

But  we  proceed  to  remark  that  Calvin  was  not 
intolerant  in  spirit  or  in  practice.  It  is  true,  that 
Servetus  was,  at  his  prosecution,  brought  to  trial 
for  conduct  the  most  criminal,  and  opinions  the 
most  horrible,  which  in  the  face  of  the  laws  and  of 
repeated  admonition,  he  continued  to  propagate 
with  pestiferous  zeal.  But  that  Calvin  did  more 
than  this,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  to  give 
occasion  to  the  charges  of  persecuting  intolerance 
so  loudly  proclaimed  against  him,  we  positively 

*  "If  you  read  the  letters  of  Calvin,  you  will  find  very 
little  about  predestination,  and  very  much  about  all  the 
other  doctrines  of  Christianity." 

f  See  Scott's  Contin.  of  Milner,  vol.  3,  pp.  545,  550, 
and  583,  and  Bib.  Repertory,  1831,  p.  421. 


52  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 

deny.  To  affirm,  as  many  do,  that  he  sousrht 
the  burning  of  Servetiis — that  he  influenced  the 
Senate  in  securing  his  death — that  he  aided  or 
abetted  in  his  execution — or  that  he  did  not  use 
his  best  endeavours  to  procure  a  mitigation  of  his 
sentence — is  an  atrocious  calumny  against  the 
truth  of  history,  and  an  act  of  black  persecution 
against  the  memory  of  a  great  and  good  man.  We 
have  already  offered  proof  of  the  liberality  and 
moderation  of  Calvin  even  towards  opponents. 
Many  similar  facts  illustrative  of  his  great  for- 
bearance might  be  adduced.  His  benevolence  no 
one  can  dispute.  Nor  can  any  one  question  his 
humble  and  unambitious  spirit.  The  earlier  edi- 
tions of  his  Institutes  contained  also  the  follow- 
ing eloquent  argument  in  favour  of  toleration. 
*'  Though  it  may  be  wrong  to  form  friendship  or 
intimacy  with  those  who  hold  pernicious  opinions, 
yet  must  we  contend  against  them  only  by  exhor- 
tation, by  kindly  instructions,  by  clemency,  by 
mildness,  by  prayers  to  God,  that  they  may  be  so 
changed  as  to  bear  good  fruits,  and  be  restored  to 
the  unity  of  the  church.  And  not  only  are  erring 
Christians  to  be  so  treated,  but  even  Turks  and 
Saracens."* 

This,  then,  was  the  natural  spirit,  and  the  gen- 

*  Dr.  Taylor's  Biography  of  the   Age  of  Elizabeth, 
vol.  2,  p.  46. 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  53 

nine  creed  of  Calvin.  But  it  was  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  spirit  and  to  the  universal  senti- 
ment of  the  age.  The  Romish  Church  had  dif- 
fused the  notion  that  the  spirit  of  the  judicial 
laws  of  the  Old  Testament  still  constituted  the 
rule  and  standard  of  the  Christian  Church.  Of 
necessity,  therefore,  a  regard  for  the  public  peace, 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Church  of  Christ  from 
infection,  required  the  punishment  of  heretics 
and  blasphemers.*  Toleration  of  errorists  was 
deemed  sinful,  and  their  destruction  a  Christian 
duty.  Men  were  taught  to  believe  that  temporal 
penalties  were  God's  appointed  means  for  making 
men  virtuous  and  religious.  The  gibbet,  the 
stake,  the  cell,  and  various  other  modes  of  torture, 
were  therefore  the  chief  arguments  employed. 
Priests  became  inquisitors.  The  pulpit  was  the 
inciter  to  slaughter;  and  Te  Deums  resounded 
through  cloistered  walls  in  commemoration  of  the 
deaths  of  infamous  heretics.  Persecution,  in  short, 
was  the  avowed  policy  of  both  the  Church  and 
the  State  for  the  suppression  of  dangerous  opin- 
ions. Now  the  E.eformers,  be  it  remembered, 
were  all  Romish  theologians,  trained  up  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  imbued  with 
these  fatal  sentiments,  which  were  everywhere 
applauded.")" 

*  See  Clarke's  Hist,  of  Intol,,  vol,  1.  p.  xviii.  and  xxi. 
I  Viller  on  the  Reformation,  p.  260. 


54  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

The  liberty  of  the  Reformation,  also,  had  been 
abused  to  the  greatest  licentiousness,  both  of  opin- 
ion and  of  practice.  Such  heresies  in  doctrine, 
and  excesses  in  conduct,  were  all  employed  as  ar- 
guments against  the  Reformation.  "While,  then, 
tolerance  of  error  was  a  standing  reproach  in  the 
mouth  of  Rome,  against  their  cause,  the  Reformers, 
deluded  in  their  first  principles,  blinded  by  the 
universal  opinion  of  all  parties,  and  driven,  in  self- 
defence,  to  oppose  themselves  to  all  heresy,  con- 
tinued to  approve  and  to  act  upon  those  views 
which  are  now  condemned  as  intolerant  and  per- 
secuting. Calvin,  therefore,  was  led  to  think  that 
his  previous  views  would  encourage  heresy,  and 
injure  the  cause  of  the  Reform;  and  for  once,  he 
allowed  his  better  judgment  to  be  warped,  and 
fully  endorsed  the  principle  that  heresy  must  be 
restrained  by  force.  But  still  he  utterly  disclaim- 
ed all  right  or  power  on  the  part  of  the  Church  to 
employ  that  force.  He  transferred  it  altogether 
to  the  civil  authorities,  that  is,  to  the  hands  of  the 
community  generally,  by  whom  it  has  been  ulti- 
mately abolished.  Tried,  therefore,  by  the  uni- 
versal judgment  of  his  age,  Calvin  was  not  intol- 
erant ;  and  when  condemned  by  the  free  and  lib- 
eral views  of  the  present  time,  he  meets  his  sen- 
tence in  common  with  all  men,  whether  civilians 


OF  JOHN   CALVTN.  55 

or  theologians,  and  with  all  the  Reformers,  whe- 
ther continental  or  Anglican.*  So  that  the  whole 
guilt  of  the  persecuting  tenets  of  the  Reformers 
must  ultimately  rest  upon  that  mother  from  whose 
breasts  these  all  had  drawn  the  milk  of  intolerance, 
and  by  whose  nurture  they  had  been  trained  up 
in  the  way  of  persecution.  The  Romish  Church, 
therefore,  as  has  been  truly  said,  is  answerable  for 

the  execution  of  Servetus.t 

/ 

*  Scott's  Contin.  toI.  3,  420,  432,  433,  435,  437,  438. 
D'Aubigne  Hist,  of  Ref.,  yol.  3,  p.  630.  Beza's  Life, 
pp.  109,  110,  156,  197. 

f  "To  appreciate,"  says  D'Aubigne,  "the  Reformer's 
sentiments  as  regards  heresy,  we  must  do  something 
similar  to  what  is  done  when  we  wish  to  appreciate  the 
strength  of  a  river ;  we  must  separate  it  into  two  forces. 
We  must  thus  separate  Calvin's  feeling  against  heresy. 
One  force  was  excellent,  it  belonged  to  Calvin;  the  other 
is  deplorable,  it  belongs  to  the  age  he  lived  in.  The 
part  that  belongs  to  Calvin  is  the  horror  he  feels  for 
false  doctrines,  which  attack  the  glory  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Would  to  God  we  felt  more  of  this  horror  for 
iiW  that  is  false  and  evil !  But  to  the  sixteenth  century 
belongs  the  idea  that  the  faults  committed  against  the 
first  table  of  the  law,  or  against  God,  ought  to  be  pun- 
ished by  human  tribunals,  and  by  such  a  punishment 
as  would  be  inflicted  for  faults  committed  against  the 
second  table,  or  against  vian.  This  was  a  Judaizing 
error:  the  sixteenth  century  had  not  yet  understood 
that  all  that  belongs  to  the  theocracy  of  the  Old  Testa- 


56  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

If,  however,  there  ever  was  a  case  in  which  the 
execution  of  the  penalty  of  death  could  have 
been  properly  inflicted,  it  was  in  that  of  Servetus. 
Never  had  man  so  blasphemed  his  Maker,  so  out- 
raged Christian  feeling  and  all  propriety,  so  in- 
sulted the  laws  in  force  for  his  destruction,  and  so 
provoked  the  slumbering  arm  of  vengeance  to  fall 
upon  him.* 

Servetus  had  been  driven  from  every  attempted 
residence  on  account  of  his  unbearable  conduct. 
He  had  been  tried  and  condemned  to  be  burned 
to  death  by  the  Romanists  at  Vienna,  from  whose 
hands  he  had  just  escaped  when  he  came  to 
Geneva. "I"  He  was  well  aware  of  the  intolerant 
character  of  the  laws  of  the  city  of  Greneva, 
enacted  against  heretics  by  the  Emperor  Fred- 
erick I.,  when  under  imperial  and  Romish  juris- 
diction— which  had  been  often  exercised  before 

ment  cannot  be  applied  to  the  Christian  Church.  Cal- 
vin, in  this  respect,  was  a  man  of  his  age;  Melancthon 
was  also.  It  is  sad,  but  can  we  be  surprised  at  it  ?  A 
longer  period  of  time  and  greater  discernment  is  re- 
quired to  perceive  these  errors  than  those  which  assault 
our  faith  in  a  more  direct  manner.  I  know  almost  only 
Luther  who,  on  this  point  (religious  liberty,)  was  in  ad- 
vance of  his  age. 

*  Beza's  Life,  pp.  163,  203.     Philad.  ed. 

t  Scott,  ibid.  423.  Beza,  ibid.  163. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  57 

that  time — and  wliich  were  still  in  force.*  Calvin, 
regarding  his  sentiments  and  conduct  with  just 
abhorrence,  and  believing  it  to  be  his  duty,  for 
the  reasons  stated,  to  oppose  them,  gave  him 
previous  notice,  that  if  he  came  to  the  city  of 
Geneva,  he  should  be  under  the  necessity  of  prose- 
cuting him.  There  was  therefore  no  previous 
malice  in  Calvin  towards  him.  When  Servetus 
had  come,  and  Calvin  had  brought  his  character 
and  opinions  to  the  view  of  the  authorities,  his 
interference  in  the  matter  there  ceased.  He 
never  visited  the  court,  except  when  required  to 
do  so.  The  Senate,  instead  of  being  influenced 
by  him  in  the  course  they  pursued,  were,  the 
greater  part  of  them,  at  that  very  time  opposed  to 
him.f  The  whole  matter  also,  before  sentence 
had  been  passed,  was,  at  Servetus'  request,  sub- 
mitted to  the  judgment  of  the  other  cities,  wKo 
unanimously  approved  of  his  condemnation. | 

It  was  the  sentiment  of  the  age,  that  those  who 
obstinately  persisted  in  heresy  and  blasphemy 
were  worthy  of  death.  Even  the  gentle  Melanch- 
thon  affirms,  in  a  letter  to  Calvin,  that  the  magis- 
trates ''acted  rightly  in  putting  this  blasphemer 

^  Scott,  ibid.  347,  356,  374,  430,  443.  Beza  ibid.  167, 
180,  and  199. 

t  Scott,  ibid.  pp.  434,  440.  Beza's  Life,  ibid.  168,  283. 
X  Scott,  ibid.  427,  436.      Beza's  Life,  ibid.  169,  195. 

6 


58  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

to  death;"  and  in  a  letter  to  Biillinger,  the  same 
mild  and  cautious  and  truly  Christian  man 
declares,  "  I  have  heen  surprised  that  there  are 
men  who  blame  this  severity." 

Servetus  /imse// maintained  this  principle  in  his 
"Restitution  of  Christianity,"  the  very  work  which 
led  to  his  trial  and  condemnation.  The  justice  of 
such  a  punishment  towards  himself,  SeiTetus 
repeatedly  avowed,  if  guilty  of  the  charges  against 
him.  And  this  punishment  Servetus  continually 
demanded  to  be  inflicted  on  Calvin,  on  the  ground 
that  by  the  laws  of  the  state  it  was  required  that 
the  person  who  lodged  an  accusation  against  any 
one  should  sustain  it  and  make  it  good,  or  failing 
to  do  this,  should  suffer  the  punishment  which 
would  have  been  due  to  the  accused.  This  pun- 
ishment, Servetus  was  led  to  believe  he  would 
be  able  to  inflict  on  Calvin,  since  in  the  council 
of  two  hundred,  before  whom  the  case  was  first 
argued,  the  opponents  and  determined  enemies 
of  Calvin — the  Libertines — predominated. 

There  is,  however,  no  probability  that  Servetus, 
under  the  circumstances,  would  have  been  visited 
with  the  punishment  he  suffered,  merely  for  his 
opinions. 

For  what  then,  it  has  been  asked,  was  he  con- 
demned? Not  for  heretical  opinions  of  any  sort 
merel}^,  or  chiefly,  we  reply.     His  opinions  and 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  59 

doctrines  were  doubtless  heretical  enough,  accord- 
ing to  the  standards  of  judgment  at  the  time ; 
heretical  thej  would  in  any  age  be  pronounced 
by  the  great  body  of  the  Christian  Church.  But 
it  was  not  so  much  his  opinions  in  themselves,  as 
the  manner  in  ivhich  he  stated  and  defended  them, 
which  gave  offence.  The  elder  Soeinus  was  teach- 
ing substantially  the  same  doctrines  at  Zurich 
without  molestation.  But  not  content  with  simply 
maintaining  and  defending  calmly  but  earnestly 
what  he  thought  to  be  truth,  Servetus  it  seems 
had  from  the  first  set  himself  to  assail  with  terms 
of  bitterest  obloquy  and  reproach,  nay  with  ribald- 
ry and  unmeasured  abuse,  the  opinions  of  those 
who  differed  from  him.  He  made  use  of  language 
which  could  not  fail  to  shock  the  minds  of  all 
sober  and  pious  men  who  held  the  doctrines  of 
either  the  Catholic  or  the  Protestant  Church.  He 
calls  persons  of  the  Godhead  delusions  of  the 
devil,  and  the  triune  Grod  a  monster,  a  three-head- 
ed Cerberus. 

It  was  this  bitterness  and  intolerance  of  spirit, 
this  entire  want  of  reverence  for  the  most  sacred 
things,  this  deliberate  insult  and  outrage  of  the 
religious  feelings  of  the  entire  Christian  world, 
that  armed  the  entire  Christian  world  against  him, 
and  made  him  a  marked  and  outlawed  man  long 
before  he  ever   sav7  Calvin   or   Geneva.      Some 


60  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

thirteen  years  before  his  trial  he  sent  back  to 
Calvin,  with  whom  he  was  then  corresponding,  a 
copy  of  his  Institutes,  with  the  most  severe  and 
bitter  reflections  and  taunts  upon  the  margin,  and 
sent  him  several  letters  of  the  most  abusive  and 
insulting  character. 

The  same  spirit  was  exhibited  on  his  trial.  He 
manifested  neither  respect  for  his  judges,  nor  a 
decent  regard  for  the  religious  sentiment  of  the 
age.  In  the  most  insulting  manner  he  heaped 
upon  Calvin  the  most  undeserved  reproaches  and 
the  most  abusive  epithets,  dealing  so  much  in  per- 
sonalities and  invectives  as  to  shame  even  his 
judges,  and  wear  out  the  patience  of  men,  many 
of  whom  were  inclined  to  look  favoumbly  upon 
his  cause.  So  far  was  this  abuse  carried,  that 
unable  to  bear  it  longer,  the  entire  body  of  the 
clergy,  with  Calvin  at  their  head,  arose  on  one 
occasion  and  left  the  tribunal,  thus  closing  the 
examination. 

On  his  final  trial  thirty-eight  propositions,  taken 
from  his  last  work,  were  handed  him.  His  an- 
swer, says  a  dispassionate  historian,  "was  more 
like  the  ravings  of  a  maniac  than  the  words  of  rea- 
son and  truth.  He  exhibited  a  surprising  indiffer- 
ence in  regard  to  the  erroneous  doctrines  which 
were  imputed  to  him,  and  sought  mainly  for  hard 
epithets  to  apply  to  Calvin.      He   accused   him 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  61 

*  *  *  *  of  being  a  murderer  and  a  disciple  of 
Simon  Magus.  The  margin  of  the  paper  contain- 
ing the  propositions  was  covered  with  such 
expressions  as  the  following  —  'Thou  dreamest/ 
'Thou  liest,'  'Thou  canst  not  deny  that  thou 
art  Simon  the  sorcerer.' " 

Another  historian  says  of  this  reply  of  Ser- 
vetus,  "It  is  no  presumption  to  say,  that  in  point 
of  abuse  and  scumlity  this  defence  stands  unri- 
valled by  any  one  that  was  ever  made  by  any 
defendant,  however  infatuated,  in  the  most  des- 
perate cause." 

It  was  not,  then,  so  much  his  opinions  and 
dogmas,  as  the  manner  in  which  he  main- 
tained them,  that  occasioned  the  final  decision 
of  the  judges,  and  the  almost  unanimous  ver- 
dict of  the  Christian  world  against  Servetus. 
'*  If  Servetus  had  only  attacked  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  by  arguments,"  says  an  able  writer, 
''he  would  have  been  answered  by  arguments, 
and  without  danger  of  persecution  by  the  Protes- 
tants he  might  have  gone  on  defending  it,  until 
called  to  answer  for  his  belief  by  Him  whose 
character  he  had  impugned.  Argument  was  not 
that  which  Calvin  and  his  contemporaries  opposed, 
by  the  civil  tribunal.  It  was  insult  and  ribaldry, 
and  that  too  against  the  Most  High,  whose  cha- 
racter they  would  defend  in  the  midst  of  a  per- 
6* 


62  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

verse  and  rebellious  generation/^  ''If  ever  a 
poor  fanatic  thrust  himself  into  the  fire/^  says 
J.  T.  Coleridge,  "  it  was  Michael  Servetus." 

What,  then,  on  the  whole,  was  Calvin's  agency 
in  this  affair  ?  Simply  this.  He  brought  an 
accusation  against  Servetus,  when  to  have  done 
otherwise  would  have  been  a  virtual  betrayal  of 
the  cause  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  as  well  as 
a  disregard  of  the  laws  of  his  country. 

The  position  of  Calvin  was  such  that  under  the 
circumstances  he  could  hardly  do  otherwise.  He 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  clergy,  not  of 
Geneva  alone,  but  of  Europe,  and  of  the  age. 
The  reproach  of  heresy  was  resting,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  Catholic  world,  upon  the  entire 
Protestant  body,  and  especially  upon  Calvin  and 
the  clergy  of  Geneva.  They  were  regarded  as 
anti-Trinitarians,  and  Geneva  as  a  receptacle  of 
heretics.  Servetus  was  known  and  acknowledged 
to  be  a  teacher  of  the  most  dangerous  errors,  and 
in  the  common  estimate  of  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  was  a  man  worthy  of  death.  If  the 
clergy  of  Geneva,  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation, 
failed  to  proceed  according  to  the  laws  against 
such  a  man,  thus  throwing  himself  into  the  midst 
of  them,  what  could  they  expect  but  that  the  oppro- 
brium of  heresy  would  justly  fasten  itself  upon 
them  in  the  general  opinion  of  men  ?     It  was  in 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  63 

fact  a  matter  of  self-defence  with  them  to  show 
the  world,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  that  they 
had  no  sympathy  with  men  who  undertook  the 
work  of  reform  in  the  spirit,  and  with  the  princi- 
ples of  Servetus.  It  was  due  to  themselves,  due 
to  the  cause  of  Protestantism,  due  to  the  State 
under  whose  laws  they  dwelt. 

As  by  law  required  he  substantiated  the  charge 
he  had  made.  This  he  did;  this,  and  nothing 
more.  With  the  condemnation  and  sentence  of 
Servetus  he  had  nothing  whatever  to  do.  The 
trial  was  before  a  civil  tribunal,  the  highest  and 
most  august  in  the  State.  Every  opportunity  of 
defence  was  afforded  the  accused.  Calvin  him- 
self furnished  him  the  books  he  needed  from  his 
own  library.  The  trial  was  conducted  with  ex- 
treme patience  and  deliberation.  The  case  was 
finally  submitted  to  the  churches  of  Switzerland 
for  their  decision.  With  one  voice  they  declared 
the  accused  guilty.  In  the  meantime  the  King 
of  France  energetically  demanded  his  death  as  a 
condemned  heretic,  who  had  escaped  from  his 
dominions.  On  political  grounds  therefore,  and 
these  alone,  his  condemnation  was  at  last  given. 
His  punishment  is  decided  by  the  united  councils 
after  a  deliberation  of  three  days,  and  so  far  from 
triumphing  in  its  severity,  Calvin,  at  the  head  of 
the  clergy,  petitions,  but  in  vain,  for  its  mitigation. 


64  LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 

We  do  not  defend,  in  all  this,  the  condemna- 
tion and  death  of  Servetus.  It  was  a  gftat  mis- 
take ;  call  it  if  you  will  a  crime.  But  let  the 
blame  rest  where  it  belongs;  not  on  John  Calvin, 
but  on  the  men  who  decreed  that  death,  and  on 
the  age  which  sanctioned  and  demanded  it. 

And  when  it  is  remembered  that  at  this  very 
time  the  flames  were  consuming  the  victims  of 
Romish  persecution,  and  also  of  those  condemned 
by  Cranmer,  who  is  called  a  pattern  of  humility — 
that  Davides  fell  a  victim  to  the  intolerance  of 
Socinus* — that  the  English  Reformers  applauded 
the  execution  of  Servetus — that  his  punishment 
was  regarded  as  the  common  cause  of  all  the 
churches  in  Christendom — and  that  for  fifty  years 
thereafter  no  writer  criminated  Calvin  for  his 
agency  in  this  matter — may  we  not  say  to  those 
who  now  try  Calvin  by  an  ex  post  facto  law,  by  a 
public  opinion,  which  is  the  result  of  the  very 
doctrines  he  promulgated — let  him  that  is  guilt- 
less among  you  cast  the  first  stone  ?  In  thus 
singling  out  Calvin  as  the  object  of  your  fierce 
resentment,  you  manifest  the  very  spirit  you  con- 
demn— a  spirit  partial,  unchristian,  and  unright- 
eous.    So  much  for  the  charge  of  intolerance, "j* 

*  Scott,  ibid.  439.      Williams'  Relig.  Liberty,  p.  135. 
f  See  further  remarks  in  Appendix,  No.  1. 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  65 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CALVIN   VINDICATED    FROM    THE    CHARGE    OF   A   WANT    OF 
NATURAL  AFFECTION  AND  FRIENDSHIP. 

Equally  futile  and  untrue  is  anotlier  charge 
made  against  Calvin,  that  he  was  entirely  desti- 
tute of  tenderness  and  all  natural  affection,  and 
that  no  expression  of  kindness  can  be  found  in 
his  writings.  That  his  intellectual  powers  were 
pre-eminent,  and  held  his  passions,  appetites  and 
desires  in  complete  subjection  to  the  dictates  of 
prudence  and  calm  sobriety,  is  unquestionably 
true.  But  that  Calvin  possessed  deep  feeling, 
and  was  susceptible  of  the  strongest  and  most 
tender  emotions,  we  believe  to  be  incontrovertibly 
certain.  ^'I  had  intended,"  he  says,  on  his 
return  to  the  people  of  Geneva,  who  had  so  cru- 
elly treated  him,  '^  to  address  the  people,  entering 
into  a  review  of  the  past,  and  a  justification  of 
myself  and  my  colleagues;  but  I  found  them  so 
touched  with  remorse,  so  ready  to  anticipate  me 
in  the  confession  of  their  faults,  that  I  felt  that 
such  a  proceeding  would  not  only  be  superfluous 
but  cruel.'^  "It  was  beautiful,"  says  Beza,  "to 
observe  the  union  of  these  three  great  men — i.  e., 
Calvin,  Farel,  and  Viret — in  the  service  of  their 
common  Master."     When  Farel  wished  to   yisit 


66  LIFE   AND    CHARACTEB, 

him  in  his  last  illness,  Calvin  wrote  him,  saying : 
*'  Farewell,  my  best  and  most  worthy  brother. 
Since  God  has  determined  that  you  should  sur- 
vive me  in  this  world,  live  mindful  of  our  union, 
which  has  been  so  useful  to  the  Church  of  Glod, 
and  the  fruits  of  which  await  us  in  heaven.  Do 
not  fatigue  yourself  on  my  account.  I  draw  my 
breath  with  difficulty,  and  am  expecting  continu- 
ally that  my  breath  will  fail.  It  is  sufficient  that 
I  live  and  die  in  Christ,  who  is  gain  to  his  ser- 
vants in  life  and  in  death.  Again,  farewell  with 
the  brethren.^' 

After  the  death  of  his  friend  Courault,  he  says, 
in  a  letter  to  Farel,  ^'I  am  so  overwhelmed,  that  I 
put  no  limits  to  my  sorrow.  My  daily  occupa- 
tions have  no  power  to  retain  my  mind  from  recur- 
ring to  the  event,  and  revolving  constantly  the 
oppressive  thought.  The  distressing  impulses  of 
the  day  are  followed  by  the  more  torturing  anguish 
of  the  night.  I  am  not  only  troubled  with  dreams, 
to  which  I  am  inured  by  habit,  but  I  am  greatly 
enfeebled  by  the  restless  watchiugs  which  are 
extremely  injurious  to  my  health." 

On  the  death  of  Bucer,  he  thus  writes : — "  I 
feel  my  heart  to  be  almost  torn  asunder,  when  I 
reflect  on  the  very  great  loss  which  the  Church 
has  sustained  in  the  death  of  Bucer,  and  on  the 
advantages  that  England  would  have  derived  from 


OF   JOHN   CALYIN.  67 

his  labours,  had  lie  been  spared  to  assist  in  carry- 
ing on  the  Reformation  in  that  kingdom." 

Look,  also,  at  his  letters  of  consolation,  addressed 
to  those  confessors  for  the  truth  who  had  been 
unable  to  make  their  escape  from  persecution.* 

On  the  death  of  his  son,  he  wrote  to  Viret, 
saying,  "  The  Lord  has  certainly  inflicted  a  heavy 
and  severe  wound  on  us,  by  the  death  of  our  little 
son ;  but  He  is  our  father,  and  knows  what  is  expe- 
dient for  his  children."  And  when  his  wife  was 
taken  from  him,  we  behold  in  Calvin  all  the  ten- 
derness of  a  most  sensitive  and  affectionate  heart. 
Writing  to  Farel,  to  whom  he  gives  a  detail  of 
her  illness,  he  says:  ''The  report  of  the  death  of 
my  wife  has  doubtless  reached  you  before  this. 
I  use  every  exertion  in  my  power  not  to  be  entirely 
overcome  with  heaviness  of  heart.  My  friends, 
"who  are  about  me,  omit  nothing  that  can  afford 
alleviation  to  the  depression  of  my  mind."  Again, 
*'may  the  Lord  Jesus  strengthen  you  by  his  Spirit 
and  me  also  in  this  so  great  calamity,  which  would 
inevitably  have  overpowered  me,  unless  from 
heaven  he  stretched  forth  his  hand,  whose  office 
it  is  to  raise  the  fallen,  to  strengthen  the  weak, 
and  to  refresh  the  weary."  Again,  writing  to 
Yiret,  he  says,  "  Although  the  death  of  my  wife 
is  a  very  severe  affliction,  yet  I  repress  as  much 

*  Scott's  Contin.  of  Milner,  p.  374. 


68  LIFE    AND   CHARACTER 

as  I  am  able,  the  sorrow  of  my  heart.  My  friends 
also  afford  every  anxious  assistance,  yet  with  all 
our  exertions,  we  effect  less,  in  assuaging  my 
grief,  than  I  could  wish;  but  still  the  consolation 
which  I  obtain,  I  cannot  express.  You  know 
the  tenderness  of  my  mind,  or  rather  with  what 
effeminacy  I  yield  under  trials;  so  that  without 
the  exercise  of  much  moderation,  I  could  not 
have  supported  the  pressure  of  my  sorrow. 
Certainly  it  is  no  common  occasion  of  grief.  I 
am  deprived  of  a  most  amiable  partner,  who,  what- 
ever might  have  occurred  of  extreme  endurance, 
would  have  been  my  willing  companion,  not  only 
in  exile  and  poverty,  but  even  in  death.  While 
she  lived,  she  was  indeed  the  faithful  helper  of 
my  ministry,  and  on  no  occasion  did  I  ever  expe- 
rience from  her  any  interruption.  For  your 
friendly  consolation,  I  return  you  my  sincere 
thanks.  Farewell,  my  dear  and  faithful  brother. 
May  the  Lord  Jesus  watch  over  and  direct  you 
and  your  wife.  To  her  and  the  brethren  express 
my  best  salutation." 

Now,  if  these  proofs  of  the  tenderness  of  Calvin 
are  not  sufficient,  let  any  one  read  the  account  of 
his  closing  scenes,  and  he  will  find  the  most 
touchiuij;  manifestations  of  an  affectionate  and 
tender  spirit.  As  a  brother,  friend,  husband, 
father,  and  minister,  Calvin  displayed  warm, 
steady,  and  unshaken  friendship  and  regard. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  69 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE  OBLIGATIONS  WHICH   WE    OWE    TO   CALVIN  AS    AMERI- 
CAN   CITIZENS    AND    CHRISTIANS,    ILLUSTRATED. 

Such  was  Calvin,  and  such  the  triumphant  defence 
of  his  character  against  all  assaults,  which  he  has 
left  behind  him  in  his  unspotted  life,  his  unim- 
peachable character,  his  familiar  epistles,  and  his 
everlasting  works.  His  wisdom,  learning,  pru- 
dence, and  unapproachable  excellencies  as  an 
author,  no  one  has  ever  dared  to  dispute.  The 
star  of  his  fame  has  continued  to  shine  with  ever- 
increasing  brilliancy  in  the  intellectual  firmament, 
and  still  guides  many  a  voyager  over  the  dark 
and  uncertain  sea  of  time  to  the  sure  haven  of 
everlasting  blessedness.  Such  is  the  rich  inheri- 
tance he  left  us,  who  would  desire  to  be  followers 
of  him,  as  far  as  he  followed  Christ.  But  this  is 
not  all.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  other  trea- 
sures, dearly  prized  by  evei'y  American  citizen. 

We  look,  for  instance,  to  our  system  of  common 
schools  as  the  great  hope  of  American  freedom,  in 
the  intelligence  they  everywhere  diffuse.  Now, 
Calvin  was  the  father  of  popular  education,  and 
the  inventor  of  the  system  of  free  schools.  None 
of  the  Reformers  perceived  more  clearly  the 
7 


70  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

advantages  of  education,  or  laboured  more  earn- 
estly to  promote  it. 

Next  to  our  common  schools,  we  prize  our  col- 
leges and  theological  seminaries  as  the  nurseries 
of  citizens,  statesmen,  and  ministers,  capable  of 
guarding  the  affairs  of  a  great  and  free  people. 
Now  the  building  and  complete  endowment  of  the 
college  and  seminary  at  Geneva,  was  among  the 
last  acts  accomplished  by  Calvin — it  having  been 
opened  in  1559,  with  600  students.  "Even  now, 
when  Geneva  has  generally  deserted  the  standards 
of  the  original  Reformers,  and  joined  those  of 
Arius  and  Socinus,  her  sons  rejoice  in  the  great 
triumph  achieved  by  the  wisdom  of  Calvin  over 
the  power  of  Napoleon,  who,  on  conquering  Gen- 
eva, wanted  courage  to  make  any  change  in  the 
system  of  education,  which  had  been  planted  more 
than  two  hundred  years  before  Bonaparte  was 
born,  by  this  distinguished  friend  of  genuine 
Christianity,  and  a  truly  scriptural  education." 

We  hail  the  birth-day  of  our  country's  liberty. 
We  still  commemorate  the  declaration  of  our 
national  independence.  We  glory  in  a  country 
more  rapidly  extending  its  territory,  its  population, 
and  its  riches,  than  any  other  upon  earth — in 
laws  the  most  just  and  impartial — in  a  govern- 
ment the  most  equitable,  economical  and  free — 
and  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  religious  liberty  more 


OP  JOHN   CALVIN.  71 

perfect  and  complete  than  can  be  paralleled  in 
the  history  of  man.  The  star  spangled  banner 
awakens  the  envy  and  the  admiration  of  the 
world — and  our  glorious  republic  is  the  fairy 
vision  which  excites  the  emulous  desire  of  imita- 
tion in  the  bosom  of  every  well-wisher  to  the 
advancement  of  society.  But  whence  came  ail 
these?  "The  pilgrims  of  Plymouth/'  says  Ban- 
croft, "were  Calvinists;  the  best  influence  in 
South  Carolina  came  from  the  Calvinists  of 
France;  William  Penn  was  the  disciple  of  the 
Hug-uenotsj  the  ships  from  Holland  that  first 
brought  colonists  to  Manhattan,  were  filled  with 
Calvinists.  He  that  will  not  honour  the  memory 
and  respect  the  influence  of  Calvin,  knows  but 
little  of  the  origin  of  American  liberty."  Yes! 
Calvin  was  a  thorough-going  republican.  The 
Institutes  of  Calvin  carry  with  the  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity the  seeds  of  republicanism  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  "Indeed,"  says  he,*  "if  these  three 
forms  of  government,  which  are  stated  by  philoso- 
phers, be  considered  in  themselves,  I  shall  by  no 
means  deny,  that  either  aristocracy,  or  a  mixture 
of  aristocracy  and  democracy,  far  excels  all  others ; 
and  that,  indeed,  not  of  itself,  but  because  it  very 
rarely  happens,   that  kings  regulate  themselves, 

*  Inst.  B.  IV.  c.  20.  I  8. 


72  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

SO  that  their  will  is  never  at  variance  with  justice 
and  rectitude;  or  in  the  next  place,  that  they  are 
endued  with  such  penetration  and  prudence,  as  in 
all  cases  to  discover  what  is  best.  The  vice  or  imper- 
fection of  men,  therefore,  renders  it  safer  and  more 
tolerable  for  the  government  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  many,  that  they  may  afford  each  other  mutual 
assistance  and  admonition,  and  that  if  any  one 
arrogate  to  himself  more  than  is  right,  the  many 
may  act  as  censors,  and  masters,  to  restrain  his 
ambition.  This  has  always  been  proved  by  expe- 
rience, and  the  Lord  confirmed  it  by  his  authority, 
when  he  established  a  government  of  this  kind 
among  the  people  of  Israel,  with  a  view  to  pre- 
serve them  in  the  most  desirable  condition,  till  he 
exhibited,  in  David,  a  type  of  Christ.  x\nd  as  I 
readily  acknowledge,  that  no  kind  of  government 
is  more  happy  than  this,  where  liberty  is  regu- 
lated with  becoming  moderation,  and  properly 
established  on  a  durable  basis,  so  also  I  consider 
these  as  the  most  happy  people,  who  are  permitted 
to  enjoy  such  a  condition;  and  if  they  exert  their 
strenuous  and  constant  efforts  for  its  preservation, 
I  admit  that  they  act  in  perfect  consistence  with 
their  duty.'' 

''Calvin,"  says  Bishop  Horsley,  "was  unques- 
tionably, in  theory,  a  republican;  he  freely  de- 
clares his  opinion  that  the  republican  form,  or  an 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  73 

aristocracy  reduced  nearly  to  the  level  of  a  repub- 
lic, was  of  all  the  best  calculated,  in  general,  to 
answer  the  ends  of  government.  So  wedded, 
indeed,  was  he  to  this  notion,  that,  in  disregard  of 
an  apostolic  institution,  and  the  example  of  the 
primitive  ages,  he  endeavoured  to  fashion  the  gov- 
ernment of  all  the  Protestant  churches  upon  repub- 
lican principles;  and  his  persevering  zeal  in  that 
attempt,  though  in  this  country,  through  the  mer- 
cy of  God,  it  failed,  was  followed,  upon  the  whole, 
with  a  wide  and  mischievous  success.  But  in 
civil  politics,  though  a  republican  in  theory,  he 
was  no  leveller." 

Geneva,  the  mother  of  modern  republics,  is  the 
monument  of  Calvin's  fame;  and  as  Montesquieu 
says,  should  celebrate,  in  annual  festival,  the  day 
when  Calvin  first  entered  that  city.  Politically 
and  ecclesiastically,  Calvin  honoured  the  people; 
assumed  their  intelligence,  virtue,  and  worth;  and 
entrusted  them  with  the  management  of  affairs. 
He  taught,  also,  the  spiritual  independence  of  the 
Church;  its  entire  separation  from  civil  govern- 
ment; and  the  supreme  and  exclusive  headship 
of  its  only  lawgiver  and  sovereign,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  These  were  the  grand  truths  taught  and 
illustrated  by  Calvin ;  truths  which  drew  the  lovers 
of  freedom  to  Geneva,  which  sent  them  away 
burning  with  the  thirst  for  liberty  and  republican- 
7* 


74  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

ism,  whicli  aroused  the  slumbering  people  of  Eu- 
rope, wliich  convulsed  France,  confederated  the 
states  of  Holland,  revolutionized  England,  Presby- 
terianized  Scotland,  colonized  New  England,  and 
founded  this  great  and  growing  republic* 

*  "He  lived  in  a  day  "w^lien  nations  were  shaken  to 
their  centre,  by  the  excitement  of  the  Reformation, 
when  the  fields  of  Holland  and  France  were  wet  with  the 
carnage  of  persecution;  when  vindictive  monarchs  on 
the  one  side  threatened  all  Protestants  with  outlawry 
and  death,  and  the  Vatican  on  the  other  sent  forth  its 
anathemas  and  its  cry  for  blood.  In  that  day,  it  is  too 
true,  the  influence  of  an  ancient,  long  established, 
hardly  disputed  error,  the  constant  danger  of  his  posi- 
tion, the  intensest  desire  to  secure  union  among  the 
antagonists  of  Popery,  the  engrossing  consciousness  that 
this  struggle  was  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Christian 
world,  induced  the  great  Reformer  to  defend  the  use  of 
the  sword  for  the  extirpation  of  error.  Reprobating 
and  lamenting  his  adhesion  to  the  cruel  doctrine,  which 
all  Christendom  had  for  centuries  implicitly  received, 
we  may  as  republicans,  remember  that  Calvin  was 
not  only  the  founder  of  a  sect,  but  foremost  among  the 
most  efficient  of  modern  republican  legislators.  More 
truly  benevolent  to  the  human  race  than  Solon,  more 
self-denying  than  Lycurgus,  the  genius  of  Calvin  infused 
enduring  elements  into  the  institutions  of  Geneva,  and 
made  it  for  the  modern  world  the  impregnable  fortress 
of  popular  liberty,  the  fertile  seed-plot  of  democracy." — 
From  an  address  to  the  public,  by  G.  Bancroft^  Esq. 


OP  JOHN  CALVIN.  75 

This,  too,  is  an  age  of  missions.  The  mission- 
ary enterprise  is  the  glory  of  the  Church,  the 
regenerator  of  society,  the  precursor  of  the  mil- 
lennial reign  of  peace  and  happiness,  and  the  hope 
of  the  world.  With  generous  emulation,  all 
branches  of  the  church  catholic  strive  for  the 
mastery  in  this  glorious  achievement,  while  Icha- 
bod  is  written  upon  any  denomination  from 
whose  battlements  the  gospel  banner  is  not  un- 
furled, and  whose  laggard  troops  come  not  up  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 
against  the  mighty.  Now  it  was  Calvin  who  led 
on  this  mighty  enterprise,  and  gave  birth  to  this 
modern  crusade  against  the  powers  of  darkness. 
He  alone,  so  far  as  we  know,  of  all  the  Reformers, 
while  battling  with  surrounding  foes,  remem- 
bered the  waste  places  of  the  earth  which  are  full 
of  the  habitations  of  horrid  cruelty,  and  con- 
nected his  name  with  the  very  earliest  attempt 
to  establish  a  Protestant  mission  in  the  heathen 
world.  He  united  with  the  admiral  de  Coligny 
in  establishing  a  colony  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  to 
which  he  sent  Peter  Richter  and  several  others 
from  G  eneva,  who  were  accompanied  with  numer- 
ous French  Protestants.*  Presbytery  and  mis- 
sions are  therefore  coeval,  coextensive,  and  in- 
separable.    They  went  hand  in  hand  during  the 

*  Scott,  ibid.  pp.  462,  464. 


76  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

first  six  centuries.  They  again  clasped  hands  in 
indissoluble  union  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation. 
They  have  lived  together  in  wedded  peace,  har- 
mony and  zeal.  And  whom  Grod  hath  so  joined 
together,  let  no  apathy  or  unbelief,  or  opinions, 
ever  put  asunder. 

To  bequeath  to  us,  his  spiritual  descendants, 
these  incomparable  blessings,  Calvin  early  sacri- 
ficed the  glittering  crown  of  academic  fame,  and 
certain  worldly  aggrandizement  and  honour — 
became  an  exile  from  home,  kindred,  and  country 
— endured  calumny,  reproach,  persecution,  banish- 
ment and  poverty,  wore  out  his  weak  and  suffer- 
ing body  with  excessive  and  unremitting  toil — 
and  at  the  early  age  of  fifty-four,  sunk  into  the 
tomb.* 

*  There  is  another  blessing  for  which,  as  Christians, 
we  are  indebted  to  Calvin,  and  which  cannot  be  too 
highly  estimated ;  I  mean  congregational  psalmody. 
Calvin  encouraged  Marot  to  make  his  metrical  version 
of  the  Psalms.  He  wrote  a  preface  to  them,  when  first 
published,  in  1543.  He  took  care  to  have  them  set  to 
music  by  the  most  distinguished  musicians.  He  then 
introduced  them  into  the  public  service  of  the  church. 
The  mode  of  singing  psalms  in  measured  verse  was 
thus  first  introduced  by  Calvin,  at  Geneva,  in  1543. 
From  that  church  the  practice  went  forth  into  all  the 
reformed  churches  in  France,  and  was  introduced  into 
England  by  the  Presbyterians  who  resided  at  Geneva, 
and  established  an  English  church  there   during  the 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  77 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE    CLOSING    SCENES   OF   CALVIX'S   LIFE. 

Let  uSj  tlien,  before  we  take  our  leave,  draw 
near,  and  contemplate  the  last  act  in  the  drama  of 
this  great  and  good  man's  life.     Methinks  I  see 

Marian  persecution.  The  English  exiles,  while  at  Geneva, 
commenced  and  completed  a  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures into  the  English  language.  The  principal  trans- 
lators were  Miles  Coverdale,  Christopher  Goodman, 
John  Knox,  Anthony  Gilby,  or  Gibbs,  Thomas  Samp- 
son, William  Cole,  and  William  Whittingham.  They 
divided  the  chapters  into  verses,  and  added  notes  in 
the  margin,  and  also  tables,  maps,  &c.,  and  published 
it,  with  a  dedication  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1560,  The 
psalms,  versified  and  set  to  music,  as  in  the  church  of 
Geneva,  were  annexed  to  this  Bible.  This  version  has 
been  known  as  that  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins.  The 
initials  of  the  name  of  the  versifier  were  prefixed  to 
each  psalm.  Thus  the  psalms,  versified  in  English, 
came  into  England,  and  were  allowed,  first,  to  be  sung 
before  the  morning  and  evening  service ;  and  at  length 
they  were  published  with  this  declaration: — Psalvis  set 
forth  and  allowed  to  be  sung  in  all  churches,  before  and 
after  morning  and  evening  prayer,  as  also  before  and  after 
sermons.  And  in  a  short  time  they  superseded  the  Te 
Deum,  Benedicite,  Magnificat,  and  Nunc  dimittis,  which 
had  been  retained  from  the  Romish  Church.  Bayle, 
Art  Marot;  Neal,  p.  109;  Heylin,  pp.  213,  214;  Rees' 
Cy.,  art,  Bible;  Burnet,  p.  290;  Waterman's  Life  of 
Calvin,  p.  403. 


78  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

that  emaciated  frame,  that  sunken  cheek,  and 
that  bright,  ethereal  eye,  as  Calvin  lay  upon  his 
study-couch.  He  heeds  not  the  agonies  of  his 
frame,  his  vigorous  mind  rising  in  its  power  as 
the  outward  man  perished  in  decay.  The  nearer 
he  approached  his  end,  the  more  energetically  did 
he  ply  his  unremitted  studies.  In  his  severest 
pains  he  would  raise  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  say, 
How  long,  0  Lord !  and  then  resume  his  efforts. 
When  urged  to  allow  himself  repose,  he  would 
say,  ''  What !  would  you  that  when  the  Lord 
comes  he  should  surprise  me  in  idleness  V  Some 
of  his  most  important  and  laboured  commentaries 
were  therefore  finished  during  this  last  year. 

On  the  10th  of  March,  his  brother  ministers 
coming  to  him,  with  a  kind  and  cheerful  coun- 
tenance he  warmly  thanked  them  for  all  their 
kindness,  and  hoped  to  meet  them  at  their  regu- 
lar Assembly  for  the  last  time,  when  he  thought 
the  Lord  would  probably  take  him  to  himself. 
On  the  27th,  he  caused  himself  to  be  carried  to 
the  senate-house,  and  being  supported  by  his 
friends,  he  walked  into  the  hall,  when,  uncover- 
ing his  head,  he  returned  thanks  for  all  the  kind- 
ness they  had  shown  him,  especially  during  his 
sickness.  With  a  faltering  voice,  he  then  added, 
*'  I  think  I  have  entered  this  house  for  the  last 
time/'  and,   mid  flowing  tears,  took   his   leave. 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  79 

On  the  2d  of  April,  he  was  carried  to  the  church, 
where  he  received  the  sacrament  at  the  hands  of 
Beza,  joining  in  the  hymn  with  such  an  expres- 
sion of  joy  in  his  countenance,  as  attracted  the 
notice  of  the  congregation.  Having  made  his 
will  on  the  2Tth  of  this  month,'^  he  sent  to  inform 
the  syndics  and  the  members  of  the  senate  that  he 
desired  once  more  to  address  them  in  their  hall, 
whither  he  wished  to  be  carried  the  next  day. 
They  sent  him  word  that  they  would  wait  on  him, 
which  they  accordingly  did,  the  next  day,  coming 
to  him  from  the  senate-house.  After  mutual 
salutations,  he  proceeded  to  address  them  very 
solemnly  for  some  time,  and  having  prayed  for 

*  See  in  the  Appendix.  Speaking  of  his  iivill,  Bayle, 
the  great  infidel  philosopher,  says: — "For  a  man  who 
had  acquired  so  great  a  reputation  and  authority,  to 
content  himself  with  a  hundred  crowns  a  year  salary, 
and  after  having  lived  till  near  fifty-five  years  of  age 
with  the  greatest  frugality,  to  leave  behind  him  no 
more  than  three  hundred  crowns,  his  library  included, 
is  something  so  heroical,  that  it  must  be  stupidity  itself 
not  to  admire  it.  To  conclude,  such  a  will  as  this  of 
Calvin's,  and  such  a  disinterestedness,  is  a  thing  so  very 
extraordinary,  as  might  make  even  those  who  cast  their 
eyes  on  the  philosophers  of  ancient  Greece,  say  of  him, 
non  inveni  tantam  fidera  in  Israel.  I  have  not  found  so 
great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel."  See  his  Dictionary, 
fol.  2.  art.  Calvin. 


80  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

them,  shook  hands  with  each  of  them,  who  were 
bathed  in  tears,  and  parted  from  him  as  from  a 
common  parent.  The  following  day,  April  28th, 
according  to  his  desire,  all  the  ministers  in  the 
jurisdiction  of  Geneva  came  to  him,  whom  he  also 
addressed :  '■'■  I  avow,"  he  said,  '"'•  that  I  have 
lived  united  with  you,  brethren,  in  the  strictest 
bonds  of  true  and  sincere  affection,  and  I  take  my 
leave  of  you  with  the  same  feelings.  If  you  have 
at  any  time  found  me  harsh  or  peevish  under  my 
affliction,  I  entreat  your  forgiveness."  Having 
shook  hands  with  them,  we  took  leave  of  him, 
gays  Beza,  '•'  with  sad  hearts  and  by  no  means  with 
dry  eyes." 

"  The  remainder  of  his  days,"  as  Beza  informs 
us,  ^^  Calvin  passed  in  almost  perpetual  prayer. 
His  voice  was  interrupted  by  the  difficulty  of  his 
respiration;  but  his  eyes  (which  to  the  last 
retained  their  brilliancy,)  uplifted  to  heaven,  and 
the  expression  of  his  countenance,  showed  the 
fervour  of  his  supplications.  His  doors,"  Beza 
proceeds  to  say,  "must  have  stood  open  day  and 
night,  if  all  had  been  admitted  who,  from  senti- 
ments of  duty  and  affection,  wished  to  see  him, 
but  as  he  could  not  speak  to  them,  he  requested 
they  would  testify  their  regard  by  praying  for 
him,  rather  than  by  troubling  themselves  about 
seeing  him.     Often,  also,  though  he  ever  showed 


OF  JOHN    CALVIN.  81 

himself  glad  to  receive  me,  he  intimated  a  scruple 
respecting  the  interruption  thus  given  to  my  em- 
ployments; so  thrifty  was  he  of  time  which  ought 
to  be  spent  in  the  service  of  the  Church/' 

On  the  19th  of  May,  being  the  day  the  minis- 
ters assembled,  and  when  they  were  accustomed 
to  take  a  meal  together,  Calvin  requested  that 
they  should  sup  in  the  hall  of  his  house.  Being 
seated,  he  was  with  much  difficulty  carried  into 
the  hall.  ^'I  have  come,  my  brethren,"  said  he, 
^Ho  sit  with  you,  for  the  last  time,  at  this  table.'' 
But  before  long,  he  said,  '^I  must  be  carried  to 
my  bed/'  adding,  as  he  looked  around  upon 
them  with  a  serene  and  pleasant  countenance, 
^' these  walls  will  not  prevent  my  union  with  you 
in  spirit,  although  my  body  be  absent."  He 
never  afterwards  left  his  bed.  On  the  27th  of 
May,  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the 
symptoms  of  dissolution  came  suddenly  on.  In 
the  full  possession  of  his  reason,  he  continued  to 
speak,  until,  without  a  struggle  or  a  gasp,  his 
lungs  ceased  to  play,  and  this  great  luminary  of 
the  Reformation  set,  with  the  setting  sun,  to  rise 
again  in  the  firmament  of  heaven.  The  dark 
shadows  of  mourning  settled  upon  the  city.  It 
was  with  the  whole  people  a  night  of  lamentatioa 
and  tears.  All  could  bewail  their  loss;  the  city 
her  best  citizen,  the  church  her  renovator  and 
8 


"82  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

guide,  the  college  ber  founder,  the  cause  of 
reform  its  ablest  cbampion,  and  every  family  a 
friend  and  comforter.  It  was  necessary  to  ex- 
clude tbe  crowds  of  visitors  who  came  to  behold 
his  remains,  lest  the  occasion  might  be  misrepre- 
sented. At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Sab- 
bath, his  body,  enclosed  in  a  wooden  coffin,  and 
followed  by  the  syndics,  senators,  pastors,  pro- 
fessors, together  with  almost  the  whole  city, 
weeping  as  they  went,  was  carried  to  the  common 
burying  ground,  without  pomp.  According  to 
his  request,  no  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory;  a  plain  stone,  without  any  inscription, 
being  all  that  covered  the  remains  of  Calvin. 

Such  was  Calvin  in  his  life  and  in  his  death. 
The  place  of  his  burial  is  unknown,  but  where  is 
his  fame  unheard? 

As  Cato  said  of  the  proposed  statue  for  himself, 
so  may  it  be  said  of  Calvin's  monument :  ''There 
are  so  many  monuments  in  this  world  of  ours, 
that  it  may  be  much  better  if  people  ask.  Where 
is  Cato's  monument?  than  to  say,  There  it  is.'' 
So  is  it  with  Calvin.  He  hath  built  himself  a 
monument  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  millions, 
more  enduring  and  more  glorious  than  any  col- 
umns of  stone  or  brass. 

What  needs  great  Calvin,  for  his  honoured  bones, 
The  labour  of  an  age  in  piled  stones  ? 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  83 

Or  that  his  hallowed  relics  should  be  hid 

Under  a  starry-pointing  pyramid? 

Dear  son  of  Memory,  great  heir  of  Fame, 

What  needest  thou  such  weak  witness  of  thy  name? 

Thou,  in  our  reverence  and  astonishment. 

Hast  built  thyself  a  live-long  monument.* 

To  conclude,  we  may  unite  with  a  late  episco- 
pal reviewer  of  the  character  of  Calvin,  in  hoping 
^Hhat  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  new  Hors- 
leys  will  be  raised  up  to  break  in  pieces  the  arrows 
of  calumny,  and  to  make  all  the  followers  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace  and  truth  ashamed  to  join  the 
ranks  of  the  infidels,  in  using  the  poisoned  weap- 
ons of  shameless  detraction  for  the  purpose  of 
vilifying  the  character  of  one  of  the  most  holy — 
the   most   undaunted — the   most   laborious,  and 

*  The  following  are  the  lines  of  Beza,  in  reference  to 
Calvin's  tomb: 

Why,  in  this  humble  and  unnoticed  tomb, 
Is  Calvin  laid,  the  dread  of  falling  Rome, 
Mourned  by  the  good,  and  by  the  wicked  feared, 
By  all  who  knew  his  excellence  revered; 

From  whom  ev'n  Virtue's  self  might  virtue  learn. 

And  young  and  old  its  value  may  discern? 
'Twas  modesty,  his  constant  friend  on  earth, 

That  laid  this  stone,  unsculptured  with  a  name. 
0  happy  turf,  enriched  with  Calvin's  worth, 

More  lasting  far  than  marble  is  thy  fame. 


84  LIFE    AND   CHARACTER 

the  most  disinterested  followers  of  a  crucified  Re- 
deemer/^* 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    SUPPLEMENTARY  VINDICATION  OF    THE  ORDINATION    OF 
CALVIN. 

In  preparing  this  vindication  of  the  character  and 
life  of  Calvin,  I  was  not  led  to  notice  the  question 
which  has  been  raised  by  his  enemies,  the  Roman- 
ists and  Prelatists,  whether  Calvin  was  ever 
ordained.  This  question  did  not  fall  under  the 
general  view  of  Calvin's  life  and  character,  which 
it  was  my  object  to  take.  The  question  had  been 
often  met,  and  triumphantly  answered;  and  ap- 
peared to  me  to  possess  little  interest  or  impQrt- 
ance  at  the  present  time.  Circumstances,  how- 
ever, have  changed.  The  baseless  attempts  to 
fasten  upon  Calvin  an  approval  of  diocesan  episco- 
pacy, having  been  completely  foiled,  and  the  cal- 
umnies against  his  general  character  having  been 
repelled,  his  enemies  have  taken  refuge  in  this  for- 
lorn hope,  and  are  now  heard  on  every  side  exclaim- 
ing, "  Ah,  but  Calvin,  after  all,  was  never  ordain- 

*  The  Rev.  Mr.  Sibson,  A.  B.,  of  Trinity  Coll.,  Dub- 
lin, in  his  Transl.  of  Beza's  Life,  pp.  118,  119. 


OP   JOHN    CALVIN.  85 

ed."  It  is  really  amusing  to  see  the  baby-arti- 
fices which  suffice  these  profound  scholars !  these 
inimitable  logicians!  these  exclusive  possessors  of 
all  grace!  ''Calvin  was  never  ordained/'  say  our 
prelatic  friends.  ''Calvin  was  never  ordained/' 
shout  the  Romanists.  "And  it  is  not  even 
attempted  to  prove  this  all-important  fact/'  they 
both  proclaim  in  loudest  chorus.  We  will  now, 
then,  meet  these  same  confident  boasters,  and 
accept  their  challenge  to  discuss  this  question. 

And,  in  the  first  place,  we  remark,  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  no  practical  importance  whatever  to 
Presbyterians,  whether  Calvin  was  or  was  not 
ordained.  This  whole  outcry  is  mere  noise,  vox 
et  prceterea  nihil,  got  up  in  order  to  drown  the 
voice  of  reason,  and  turn  away  attention  from  evi- 
dent defeat. 

Let  it  then  be  fully  understood  that  the  valid- 
ity of  Presbyterian  ordination  depends,  in  no 
MANNER  OR  DEGREE,  upon  the  ordination  of  Cal- 
vin. He  may  have  been  ordained  or  not  ordained, 
while  of  our  ordination  there  can  be  no  manner 
of  doubt.  Were  the  validity  of  our  ordinations 
made  to  depend  upon  the  personal  succession  of 
a  line  of  single  ordainers,  were  Calvin  a  link  in. 
that  line,  and  were  our  present  chain  connected 
with  him,  then,  indeed,  there  would  be  some  sense 

and  some  force   in  the  objections  made   against 
8=K 


86  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 

Calvin's  ordination.  li  is  on  this  ground  we 
boldly  deny  that  any  valid  prelatical  ordination  ex- 
istSj  or  can  be  shown  to  exist,  either  in  the  Rom- 
ish, Anglican,  or  American  Episcopal  churches. 
But  we  hold  to  no  such  doctrine.  Our  ordination 
depends  not  upon  one  prelate,  but  upon  many  pres- 
byters. So  that  even  if  invalidity  could  be  shown 
to  attach  to  any  one  of  the  number  of  presby- 
ters officiating  in  any  given  case,  it  does  not  affect 
the  whole,  and  consequently  does  not  injure  that 
ordination  which  is  given  by  the  whole.  Did  Cal- 
vin ever  ordain  alone  ?  Did  Calvin  ordain  alone  all 
those  from  whom  our  present  ordinations  spring? 
Preposterous  assumption!  which  all  the  boldness 
of  reckless  malignity  has  never  dared  to  make. 

Suppose,  then,  that  Calvin,  while  unordained, 
had  united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  in 
conferring  ordination  upon  others.  Were  not  the 
others,  Farel  and  Coraud,  ordained,  and  ordained, 
too,  by  Romish  prelates?  Were  not  Luther  and 
Zuinglius,  and  many  others,  prelatically  ordained  ? 
And  subtracting,  therefore,  the  invalid  co-operation 
of  Calvin  from  the  ceremony,  was  there  not  still 
validity  enough  to  secure  a  valid  result?  On  the 
ground  of  scripture,  of  reason,  and  of  the  theory 
of  Presbyterian  ordination,  most  assuredly  there 
was.  And  whatever  our  opponents  may  choose  to 
say  of  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination  gen- 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  87 

erally,  they  cannot,  without  betraying  absolute 
absurdity,  affirm  that  it  depends,  in  any  degree, 
upon  the  fact  of  Calvin's  ordination.  This  whole 
question,  therefore,  is  merely  one  of  literary  curi- 
osity and  historical  research. 

But  we  proceed  a  step  further,  and  affirm  that 
Calvin's  character  and  authority  as  a  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ,  did  not  depend  upon  his  ordination. 
Ordination  does  not  confer  upon  any  man  either 
the  character  or  the  authority  of  a  minister  of 
Christ.  The  qualifications  which  fit  any  man  for 
this  high  office  can  be  imparted  only  by  God 
through  Christ,  and  by  the  effectual  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Without  these,  no  man  is  a  fit 
subject  for  ordination,  which  presupposes  their 
existence.  The  authority  to  preach  the  gospel 
arises  also  from  that  commission  which  Christ  has 
given  to  all  those  whom  he — as  the  only  Head  of 
the  Church,  to  whom  all  power  in  heaven  and  on 
earth  has  been  given — has  qualified  for  the  work. 
It  is  a  blasphemous  assumption,  in  any  church  or 
body  of  men,  to  claim  the  power  of  imparting  to 
others  either  the  qualifications  or  the  authority  to 
preach  the  gospel.  Ordination,  therefore,  is  not  in 
itself  absolutely  essential  to  a  true  ministry,  since 
there  may  be  the  qualifications  and  the  authority 
to  use  them,  without  it.  Ordination  is  merely  the 
appointed  method  whereby  any  given  branch  of 


88  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

the  Cturcli  declares  their  belief  that  the  indivi- 
dual ordained  is  qualified  and  authorized  by  God 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  whereby  they  commend 
him  to  all  those  for  whom  they  act,  as  worthy  of 
their  confidence,  and  entitled  to  all  the  respect 
and  consideration  due  to  a  minister  of  Christ. 
Ordination,  therefore,  is  essential  to  the  regularity 
but  not  to  the  validity  of  the  ministry.  And 
should  any  church  have  such  unbounded  confi- 
dence in  the  qualifications  and  call  of  any  man  for 
the  ofiice,  as  to  allow  him  to  minister  among  them 
without  a  special  ordination,  he  would  be  no  less 
certainly  a  minister,  because  admitted  in  an  unu- 
sual way  to  the  exercise  of  his  gifts  and  calling. 
In  ordinary  circumstances,  of  course,  no  such  case 
could  occur.  We  speak  hypothetically.  But  is 
it  true  that  Calvin  was  never  ordained  ? — then  do 
our  remarks  apply,  in  all  their  strength  to  him. 
Who  ever  doubted  his  qualifications  for  the  minis- 
try? Not,  surely,  the  ministers  and  magistrates 
of  Geneva,  when  they,  almost  by  violence,  com- 
pelled him  to  enter  upon  his  duties.  Having, 
then,  as  the  whole  reformed  world  believe,  the 
qualifications  and  call  which  fitted  him  for  the 
ministry,  Calvin  had  also  the  authority  of  Christ 
for  emjasfina;  in  its  work.     And  if  the   churches 

coo 

thought  it  unnecessary  that  he  should  be  formally 
set  apart  by  ordination,  Calvin's  authority  as  a 


OP  JOHN  CALVIN.  89 

minister  of  Christ  is  not  the  less,  but  even  the 
more  evident;  since  it  was  believed  by  all  to  be 
accredited  by  extraordinary  gifts  and  calling.'*' . 

But  still  further,  we  affirm,  that  Calvin  was 
authorized  to  preach  by  the  Romish  Church  itself. 
He  received  the  tonsure  at  the  hands  of  the  Rom- 
ish prelate,  which  is  the  first  part  of  the  ceremony 
of  ordination,  and  qualifies  for  holding  benefices 
and  cures.  The  hair  then  cut  from  the  crown  of 
the  head,  shows,  as  is  taught  by  Romanists,  that 
the  individual  partakes  of  the  sovereignty  of  Jesus 
Christ. f  In  virtue  of  this  office  and  authority, 
^'itis  certain"  that  John  Calvin  delivered  some 
sermons  at  PontL'Eveque,  before  he  left  France.  J 
He  had  ordination  sufficient,  therefore,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Romish  Church,  to  warrant  his 
preaching.  And  since  the  power  this  Church 
professes  to  give  in  ordination  for  the  priesthood, 
is  idolatrous  and  blasphemous, §  and  is  not  at- 
tempted or  believed  in  by  the  Reformed  Churches, 

*  See  these  views  fully  and  literally  sustained  by  the 
Confession  of  the  French  Churches,  article  xxxi,  Quick's 
Synodicon,  vol.  1,  p.  xiii. ;  and  by  many  other  reformed 
bodies  and  authors  as  given  in  Henderson's  Rev.  &  Con- 
sid.  pp.  252-263. 

t  See  Broughton's  Eccl.  Diet.  Vol.  2,  468. 

%  Beza's  Life. 

^  The  offering  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  by  transubstantiation. 


90  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

Calvin  received  from  tlie  Romish  ChurcTi  all  that 
authority  which  is  deemed  sufficient  for  those 
duties  which  are  recognized  by  Protestants  as 
proper  and  peculiar  to  the  ministry. 

But  we  advance  still  further  in  our  argument, 
and  assert  that  it  is  a  matter  of  the  most  certain 
inference  that  Calvin  was  ordained  in  the  Re- 
formed Church,  and  by  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva. 

That  a  Presbytery  existed  at  Geneva,  before 
Calvin  reached  that  city,  is  be3''ond  doubt.  Beza 
expressly  declares  that,  when  Farel,  by  his  denun- 
ciation, overcame  the  purpose  of  Calvin  to  pass  by 
Geneva,  "  Calvin,  affrighted  by  this  terrible  denun- 
ciation, gave  himself  up  to  the  will  of  the  Presby- 
tery and  the  magistrates.'^  (Presbyterii  et  magis- 
tratus  voluntati.")* 

That  it  was  the  established  and  uniform  belief 
of  the  Reformers,  that  ordination  in  the  ordinary 
circumstances  of  the  Church  was  necessary  and 
very  important,  and  that  their  practice  was  con- 
sistent with  this  belief,  is  equally  certain.  Unless 
this  is  denied,  it  is  unnecessary  to  produce  the 
proofs  which  are  at  hand.| 

Nay  more,  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  this  was  the 

*  Calvin,  i.,  0pp.  folio.  1. 

+  See  Seaman's  Vind.  of  the  judgment  of  the  Reformed 
Church  concerning  Ordination.     London,  1647. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  91 

judgment  not  only  of  all  the  other  Reformers,  but 
also  of  Calvin  himself.  He  insists,  in  many  parts 
of  his  Institutes,  (his  earliest  theological  work,) 
upon  the  importance  and  necessity  of  ordination 
by  the  imposition  of  hands.  (See  Book  IV.  chap, 
iii.  §  16,  and  chap.  iv.  §  6,  10,  14.)  These  sen- 
timents, which  Calvin  had  published  just  before 
going  to  Geneva,  he  ever  after  held,  as  is  manifest 
in  all  the  subsequent  editions  of  this  work,  and  in 
the  Confession  of  the  French  Churches,  which  he 
drew  up,  and  in  which  ordination  is  declared  to 
be  essential  to  a  regular  ministry. 

The  inference,  therefore,  is  unavoidable,  that 
since  there  was  a  Presbytery  at  Geneva  when  Cal- 
vin went  there  since  all  the  Reformers,  and  Calvin 
in  particular,  insisted  on  the  necessity  and  scrip- 
turality  of  ordination;  and  since  Calvin  is  ex- 
pressly said  to  have  given  himself  up  to  the  Pres- 
bytery, he  must  have  been,  and  he  was,  ordained. 
No  particular  record  of  the  time  and  manner  of 
his  consecration  is  necessary.  There  is  circum- 
stantial evidence  more  than  sufl&cient  to  establish 
the  fact  in  any  court  of  law. 

But  still  further.  Calvin  himself  bears  witness 
that  he  was  ordained.  Thus  in  his  preface  to  his 
Commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  he  says: — ''As 
David  was  raised  from  the  sheepfold  to  the  high- 
est dignity  of  government,  so  God  has  digniiSed 


^  LIFE   AND   CHARACTER 

me,  derived  from  an  obscure  and  humble  origin, 
with  the  high  and  honourable  office  of  minister 
and  preacher  of  the  gospel."*  But,  since  Calvin 
himself  publicly  and  constantly  taught  the  neces- 
sity of  ordination  to  the  ministry,  in  making  this 
declaration  he  asserts  also  the  fact  of  his  ordina- 
tion. Thus,  also,  when  Cardinal  Sadolet  attacked 
the  character  of  his  ministry,  he  formally  defend- 
ed it  in  a  long  epistle  addressed  to  that  distin- 
guished man.f  In  this  defence  he  says:  ^'Sed 
quura  ministerium  meum  quod  Dei  vocatione 
fundatum  ac  sancitum  fuisse  non  dubito,  per  latus 
meum  sauciari  videam,  perfidia  erit,  non  patientia, 
si  taceam  hie  atque  dissimulem.  Doctoris  pri- 
mum,  deinde  pastoris  munere  in  ecclesia  ilia  func- 
tus sum.  Quod  earn  provinciam  suscepi,  legitimae 
fuisse  vocationis  jure  meo  contendo."  "Hoc  ergo 
ministerium  ubi  a  Domino  esse  constiterit,"  &c. 
That  is,  ''when  I  see  m?/  ministrt/,  which  I  doubt 
not  was  founded  and  sanctioned  by  the  vocation 
of  God,  wounded  through  my  side,  it  would  be 
perfidy  and  not  patience,  if  I  should  remain  silent 
and  dissemble  in  such  a  case.  I  filled  (or  enjoyed 
the   honour  of)  the  office,  first  of  professor,  and 

*  Hoc  tamen  honorifico  munere  dignatus  est,  ut  evan- 
gelii  prseco  essem  ac  minister.     Op.  Tom.  iii. 

f  Ad.  J.  Sadoletum  Responio,  &c.,  in  Op.  Tom.  viii. 
p.  105,  &c. 


OF   JOHN    CALVIN.  93 

afterwards  of  pastor  in  that  church,  and  I  con- 
tend that  I  accepted  of  that  charge,  having  the 
authority  of  a  lawful  vocation."  "  Since  then, 
my  ministry  has  been  established  by  the  Lord,'^ 
&c.  If,  then,  the  testimony  of  Calvin — published 
to  the  world,  in  the  face  of  the  Reformed  Churches, 
and  in  full  view  of  their  sentiments  and  practice 
on  the  subject  of  ordination,  in  both  which  he 
concurred,  can  be  relied  on,  then  is  his  introduc- 
tion to  the  ministry  by  a  regular  ordination,  be- 
yond all  controversy  certain. 

But  still  further.  We  have  the  evidence  of  the 
Reformers  and  Reformed  Churches  themselves, 
that  Calvin  was  ordained.  No  one  stood  higher 
amono;  them  as  a  minister  and  a  leader.  He  was 
chosen  Moderator  of  the  Presbytery  at  Geneva, 
and  continued  to  fill  that  office  till  his  death. 
He  sat  in  the  Synods  of  the  Swiss  churches. 
When  driven  from  Geneva  he  retired  to  Stras- 
burg,  where  he  was  again  constrained  to  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  a  professor  and  a  pastor,  by 
the  agency  of  those  distinguished  men,  Bucer, 
Capito,  Hedio,  Niger,  and  Sturmius.  Bucer  also, 
in  a  letter  addressed  to  him  in  1536,  expressly 
calls  him  ''my  brother  and  fellow  minister." 
Now  all  these  Reformers,  as  we  have  seen,  held 
that  ordination  was  both  scriptural  and  necessary ; 
and  since  Calvin  himself  was  of  the  same  opinion, 
9 


94  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

we  must  regard  their  testimony  to  his  ministerial 
character  and  standing,  as  proof  positive  of  their 
belief  that  he  was  regularly  ordained. 

Beza,  in  his  life  of  Calvin,  seems  to  declare 
that  he  was  ordained  as  plainly  as  language  could 
do  it.  He  says:  ^^Calvinus  sese  presbyterii  et 
magistratus  voluntati  permisit ;  quorum  suffragiis, 
accedente  plebis  consensu,  delectus  non  concion- 
ator  tantum  (hoc  autem  primum  recusarat)  sed 
etiam  sacrarum  literarum  doctor,  quod  unum  ad- 
mittebat,  est  designatus,  A.  D.  MDXXXVI." 
That  is,  ^'Calvin  surrendered  himself  to  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Presbytery  and  magistrates,  by  whose 
votes,  (the  people  having  previously  expressed 
their  willingness,)  having  been  chosen  not  only 
preacher,  (which  office  he  had,  however,  at  first 
declined,)  but  also  professor  of  divinity,  he  was 
set  apart  [or  inducted  into  office,]  in  the  year 
1536."  Now  the  very  office  and  duty  of  a  Pres- 
bytery is,  among  other  things,  to  admit  and  or- 
dain men  to  the  ministry.  But  Calvin  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  ministry  by  a  Presbytery  composed 
of  Reformers,  who  strongly  insisted  upon  the  im- 
portance of  the  rite  of  ordination.  Calvin,  also, 
concurred  in  their  views  of  this  ordinance,  as  in- 
troductory to  their  ministry.  And  Beza  says, 
that  having  been  elected  pastor  by  the  people, 
and  having  been  approved  by  the  votes  of  the 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  95 

Presbytery,  "  lie  was  set  apart,"  that  is,  in  tlie 
regular  way,  by  ordination.  Beza  never  dreamt 
tbat,  in  after  times,  a  fact  so  necessarily  implied 
in  his  statement,  and  in  all  the  circumstances  of 
the  case,  could  or  would  be  questioned. 

This  clear  testimony  of  Beza  is  confirmed  by 
that  of  Junius,  the  learned  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  Leyden.  In  opposition  to  Bellarmine,  he 
affirms  that  the  Reformers  who  preceded  Calvin, 
held  and  practised  Presbyterian  ordination,  and 
that  by  some  of  these,  his  predecessors,  Calvin 
was  himself  ordained.* 

Certain  it  is  that  neither  Romanists  nor  prela- 
tists  at  that  day,  ever  questioned  the  fact  that 
Calvin  was  ordained  in  the  manner  of  the  Re- 
formed Church.  The  Romanists  did  not.  Car- 
dinal Bellarmine  says  that  ''neither  Luther,  nor 
Zuingle,  nor  Calvin,  were  bishops,  (i.  e.  prelates,) 
but  only  presbyters  ;"{"  thus  evidently  assuming  as 
undeniable  that  they  were  all  presbyters,  and 
therefore  ordained  as  such.  Cardinal  Sadolet 
seems  also,  from  the  controversy  between  him 
and  Calvin,  fully  to  have  admitted  Calvin's  ordi- 
nation according  to  the  order  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  but  to  have  denied  the   validity  of  such 

*  Animadversiones  in  Bellarm.  Controv.  V  Lib.  cap. 
3,  in  Dr.  Miller  on  Min.  p.  407. 

f  Controv.  V.  Lib.  cap.  3,  in  Dr.  Miller  on  Min. 


96  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

orders,  because  administered  out  of  the  Romish 
Church.  And  hence  the  object  of  Calvin,  in  his 
reply,  is  not  to  establish  the  fact  of  his  ordination, 
but  the  validity  and  scripturality  of  the  orders  of 
the  Reformed  Church. 

Neither  did  prelatists  then  question  the  minis- 
terial character  and  standing,  and  the  consequent 
ordination  of  Calvin.  Dr.  John  Philpot,  arch- 
deacon of  Winchester,  martyr  in  1555,  in  proving 
that  the  Reformed  is  the  true  Church,  by  the 
"spirit  of  wisdom,  that  the  adversaries  thereof 
could  never  be  able  to  resist,"  says,  "Where 
is  there  one  of  you  all  that  ever  hath  been  able 
to  answer  any  of  the  godly,  learned  ministers,  of 
Germany,  who  have  disclosed  your  counterfeit 
religion.  Which  of  you  all,  at  this  day,  is  able 
to  answer  Calvin's  Institutes,  who  is  minister 
of  Geneva?'^  To  this  his  Popish  inquisitor.  Dr. 
Saverson,  replied,  not  by  denying  the  ordination 
or  ministerial  character  of  Calvin,  but  by  black- 
ening the  character  of  the  Reformers  generally — 
"a  godly  minister,  indeed,  of  receipt  of  cutpurses 
and  runagate  traitors,'^  &c.  "I  am  sure,''  replied 
Philpot,  "you  blaspheme  that  godly  man,  and 
that  godly  church  ivhere  he  is  a  minister,  as  it  is 
your  Church's  condition,  when  you  cannot  answer 
men  by  learning,  to  oppress  them  with  blasphe* 


OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  97 

mies  and  false  reports."*  This  title  he  proceeds 
to  give  Calvin  again  in  the  very  next  sentence. f 
Bishop  Jewell,  the  authorized  expounder  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  English  Church,  replies  to  the 
Jesuit  Harding,  'touching  Mr.  Calvin,  it  is  a 
great  wrong  untruly  to  represent  so  reverend  a 
father  and  so  worthy  an  ornament  of  the  Church 
of  God.  If  you  had  ever  known  the  order  of  the 
church  of  Geneva,  and  had  seen  four  thousand 
people  or  more,  receiving  the  holy  mysteries  to- 
gether at  one  communion,  you  could  not,  without 
your  great  shame  and  want  of  modesty,  thus  un- 
truly have  published  to  the  world,  that  by  Mr. 
Calvin's  doctrine  the  sacraments  are  superfluous." 
— Defence  of  the  Apology;  see  in  Richmond's 
Fathers  of  the  English  Church,  vol.  viii.  p.  680. 
Such  also  were  the  views  entertained  by  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer,  Bishop  Hooper,  Bishop  Hall, 
and  many  others.  Hooker  implies  the  ordina- 
tion and  perfect  ministerial  standing  of  Calvin,  in 
all  that  he  says  of  him.  He  calls  him  '' incom- 
parably the  wisest  man  («'.  e.  minister)  the  French 
Church  did  enjoy,  since  the  hour  it  had  him.^' 
Speaking  of  the  Genevan  clergy,  he  calls  them 
"pastors  of  their  souls,"  and  then  adds,  "Calvin 

*  See  Examinations  and  Writings  of  Philpot,  Parker 
Society  edition,  pp.  45,  46. 
f  Foxe's  Exam,  of  Philpot. 

9* 


98  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

being  admitted  one  of  their  preachers/^  that  is, 
one  of  these  pastors,  for  they  had  no  preachers, 
except  their  regularly  ordained  ministers,  *' where- 
fore taking  to  him  two  of  the  other  ministers," 

Bullinger  also,  the  cotemporary  of  Calvin,  of 
whom  it  is  said  that  "  all  the  fathers  of  the  Eng- 
lish reformation  held  him  in  great  esteem,''  and 
that  ''he  did  much  service  in  the  Enolish 
Church;"  to  whom  Bishops  Grindal  and  Horn, 
in  a  joint  letter  to  him,  ''attribute  chiefly  the 
favourable  change  which  had  taken  place  in  the 
feelings  of  the  people  toward  the  Church  ;""|"  and 
whose  catechism  was  selected  by  the  University 
of  Oxford,  as  one  of  those  books  which  the  tutors 
were  required  to  use ;  most  explicitly  sustains  the 
ministerial  character  of  Calvin.  In  a  work  pub- 
lished by  order  of  the  convocation  of  the  English 
Church  in  1586,  cum  gratia  et  privilegio  regice 
majestatis,  and  as  a  manual  for  preachers,^  he 
speaks  of  Calvin  in  these  terms:  "John  Calvin,  a 
godly  and  learned  man,  who  with  great  commend- 
ation teacheth   in  the  Church  at  this    day,  my 

*  Eccl.  Pol.  Pref.  vol.  i.  pp.  158,  159,  Keble's  ed. 
t  Strype's  Mem.  II.  1.  p.  531,  532,  Oxf.  ed.    Strype's 
Grindal,  p.  156,  Oxf.  ed. 

J  Wilkin's  Concilia,  &c.,  vol.  iv.  p.  321,  322. 


OF  JOHN   CALVIN.  99 

fellow  minister,  and  most  well-beloved  and  dear 
brother."* 

*'  Stancarus  also,  the  Polish  Reformer,  wrote  a 
work  'Adversus  Henriciim  BuUingerum,  Petrum 
Martyrem  et  Joannem  Calvinum,  et  reliquos 
Tigurinse  ac  Genevensis  ecclesias  minisfros,  eccle- 
si£e  Dei  perturbatores/^  etc.,  Basle,  1547.  This 
work  was  replied  to  by  Semler,  and  is  refeiTed  to 
by  Bishop  Jewell  in  a  letter  to  this  Swiss  reformer. 
Now  here  we  have  Calvin  expressly  denominated 
a  minister  by  a  Romanist,  in  a  controversial  work 
written  against  him,  and  in  the  same  sense  in 
which  Bullinger  and  Peter  Martyr  are  called 
ministers.  And  it  remains  to  be  shown  that 
Roman  Catholic  theologians  are  in  the  habit  of 
applying  the  term  'minister'  to  persons  whom 
they  believe  to  be  in  no  sense  or  manner  or- 
dained."f  In  "A  Christian  Letter  of  certain 
English  Protestants,  unfeigned  favourers  of  the 
present  state  of  religion  authorized  and  professed 
in  England,  under  that  reverend  and  learned  man, 
Mr.R.  Hooker/'  written  in  1590,  it  is  said  :  ''The 
reverend  fathers  of  our  Church  call  Mr.  Calvin 
one  of  the  best  writers  (Whitgift  Def.  of  Ans.  p. 

*  Bullinger  on  the  Sacraments,  Cambridge,  1840, 
p.  287. 

f  See  Zurich  Letters,  1558 — 1579,  Parker  Society, 
p.  127. 


100  LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

890;)  a  reverend  father  and  a  worthy  ornament 
of  tlie  Churcli  of  God,  (Jewel  Apol.  Def.  of,  pt. 
II.  p.  149,  and  Fulke  against  Stapleton,  p.  71;) 
not  only  defending  the  same  doctrine,  but  also 
discharging  him  of  slanderous  reports  wrongfully 
laid  against  him;  knowing  that  by  defaming  the 
persons  of  ministers,  the  devil  of  old  time  laboured 
to  overthrow  the  gospel  of  Christ."  See  quoted 
at  length  in  Hanbury's  edition  of  Hooker's  Works, 
vol.  i.  p.  22,  23.  The  whole  is  very  strong.  See 
also  Wordsworth's  Eccl.  Biogr.  vol.  iv.  p.  269, 
vol.  V.  p.  544,  &c.  Of  the  opinion  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  as  to  the  ordination  of  John  CalviE 
in  1586,  there  can,  therefore,  be  no  longer  an-;^ 
question. 

Such,  then,  is  the  accumulated  evidence  in 
proof  of  the  certain  and  necessary  ordination  of 
Calvin.  It  can  only  be  denied  by  those  who  are 
willing,  for  sectarian  purposes,  to  shut  their  eyes 
against  the  clearest  light.  It  is  asserted  by  Cal- 
vin himself,  by  Beza,  and  by  Junius.  It  is  im- 
plied as  necessary  in  the  practice  of  the  whole 
Reformed  Church,  of  which  Calvin  approved,  and 
which  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva  must  have  car- 
ried out.  It  was  allowed  by  Romanists  and  pre- 
latists  of  his  own  age,  and  is  implied  in  the  esti- 
mation in  which  he  was  regarded  by  the  whole 
Reformed  Church. 


OP   JOHN   CALVIN.  101 

But  even  were  the  ordination  of  Calvin  doubt- 
ful, we  have  shown  that  he  was  so  far  ordained 
by  the  Romish  Church  as  to  be  authorized  to 
preach;  that  his  authority  as  a  minister  depends 
not  on  the  ceremony  of  ordination;  and  that,  in- 
asmuch as  our  present  orders  are  in  no  degree 
dependent  upon  his,  their  validity  is  in  no  way 
connected  with  the  fact  or  certainty  of  Calvin's 
ordination. 

While  the  validity  of  Romish  and  prelatical 
ordination  hangs  upon  the  baseless  assumption  of 
an  unbroken  line  of  personal  successors  of  the 
Apostles — a  mere  figment  of  the  imagination,  and 
without  any  foundation  in  scripture,  reason,  or 
fact — our  ordination  is  traced  up  directly  to 
Christ  and  his  apostles;  is  based  upon  the  clear 
evidence  of  Scripture,  and  the  undoubted  practice 
of  the  primitive  Christians;  and  is  transmitted, 
not  through  one  line,  but  through  many,  and  not 
through  any  one  order  of  prelates,  but  through 
the  whole  body  of  pastors  and  ministers  who  have 
successively  existed  in  every  age  of  the  Church. 


APPENDIX   No.  I. 


THE  CASE  OF  SERVETUS. 

It  had  been  a  favourite  design  of  tlie  late  cele- 
brated Dr.  McCrie,  to  publish  the  life  of  Calvin, 
and  to  set  at  rest  the  question  of  Servetus's  death, 
by  instituting  original  researches  in  the  archives 
and  public  library  of  Geneva.  This  labour  was 
entrusted  to  his  able  son,  the  Rev.  John  McCrie, 
who  visited  the  above  city  for  that  purpose,  and 
devoted  more  than  a  year  to  collecting  valuable 
historical  data  for  his  father.  But  the  venerable 
Doctor  died  when  on  the  eve  of  undertaking  the 
work  which  was  to  crown  his  literary  career.  The 
Rev.  John  McCrie  accepted  as  a  sacred  inheritance 
from  his  father,  and  a  fruit  of  his  laborious  inves- 
tigation, the  now  easy  and  distinguished  task  of 
rehabilitating  the  Reformer  in  public  opinion, 
when  a  premature  death  disappointed  the  expec- 
tations of  his  friends  and  relatives. 

The  rehabilitation  of  Calvin,  however,  was 
delayed  only  to  become  the  more  sure  by  being 
entrusted  to  his  enemies,  and  taking  place  in  the 
very  city  where  the  scenes  reproachfully  ascribed 
to  him  were  enacted.  A  Unitarian  clergyman  of 
considerable  talent  and  learning,  the  Rev.  A. 
Reilliet,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  Dr.  McCrie, 
ransacked  the  archives  of  Geneva,  investigated 
carefully  all  the  manuscripts  and  correspondence 

102 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETTJS.  103 

of  the  times,  preserved  in  the  public  libraries  of 
Europe,  which  bore  on  this  case;  and  although 
avowing  bitter  hostility  to  Calvinism,  yet,  as  an 
impartial  historian,  he  published,  in  184-1,  the 
detailed  result  of  his  investigations,  which  is  a 
complete  verdict  of  acquittal  of  the  mischievous 
and  ungrounded  charges  brought  against  Calvin, 
in  reference  to  Servetus's  death. 

The  conclusion  to  which  Mr.  Reilliet  arrives, 
upon  evidence  which  can  never  be  contested,  may 
be  summed  up  as  follows :  Servetus,  although  op- 
posed to  the  Trinity,  was  anything  but  a  modern 
Unitarian.  While  the  latter  denies  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  he  denied  his  humanity,  and  considered 
him  the  absolute  God;  thus  he  was  one  degree 
further  removed  from  Unitariauism  than  the  ortho- 
dox; otherwise,  a  thorough  Pantheist,  who  assert- 
ed, even  before  his  judges,  that  the  bench  on 
which  he  sat  was  God. 

When  Servetus  came  to  Geneva,  he  had  just 
escaped  from  the  prison  at  Vieune,  where  the 
Komish  bishops  had  him  sentenced  to  be  burned 
by  a  slow  fire.  He  concealed  himself  in  a  tavern 
under  an  assumed  name.  But  learning  that  the 
ministers  had  lost  all  influence  upon  a  government 
which  hated  their  rigid  morals,  that  Calvin  at  the 
time  was  thwarted  by  them  in  everything,  and 
that  Geneva  had  become  untenable  for  him,  he 
emerged  from  secrecy,  in  the  hope  of  placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  political  party,  and  driv- 
ing both  Reformers  and  the  Reformation  from 
Geneva,  and  substituting  his  own  rules  and  tenets. 
The  trial  of  Servetus  was  equally  that  of  Calvin ; 
indeed,  the  fate  of  the  latter  was  at  times  the 
more  imminent  of  the  two,  the  President  of  the 


104  APPENDIX. 

Court,  and  influential  members  of  the  Council 
being  his  avowed  and  personal  enemies.  The 
struggle  was  forced  upon  him;  the  acquittal  of  the 
one  was  to  be  the  sentence  of  the  other.  The  awe 
of  the  Protestant  governments  might  have  saved 
Calvin  from  death,  but  not  from  imprisonment  or 
perpetual  exile,  if  Servetus  had  succeeded. 

The  Court  was  partial  to  Servetus,  and  would 
fain  have  saved  him,  if  his  triumphant  over- 
bearance  had  not  ruined  his  cause ;  yet,  they 
would  not  pass  sentence  upon  him,  but  left  the 
case  to  the  decision  of  the  four  Protestant  govern- 
ments of  Berne,  Basle,  Zurich,  and  Schaff  hausen. 
These  all  urged  that  the  sentence  of  the  Romish 
Bishops  be  carried  out  against  Servetus,  and  left 
no  other  alternative  to  the  weak  government  of 
Geneva.  In  the  meantime  the  King  of  France 
claimed  energetic  all y  the  execution  of  the  heretic 
who  had  escaped  from  his  kingdom  under  sentence. 
Servetus  entreated  as  a  favour  to  be  executed  in 
Geneva,  and  not  by  the  slow  fire  of  the  Romish 
Bishops. 

A  most  important  point  established  by  Reilliet 
is,  that  the  condemnation  of  Servetus  was  j^^reli/ 
jwlitical.  He  was  sentenced  by  the  magistrates 
of  Geneva,  not  as  a  heretic,  but  as  a  rebel,  who 
attempted  to  subvert  the  constitution  of  Geneva. 
The  purely  theological  quarrel  disappeared  before 
this  motive  for  condemning  him.  The  judicial 
sentence  in  the  list  of  charges  brought  against  Ser- 
vetus, does  not  mention  at  all,  either  the  attacks 
against  Calvin,  or  those  against  the  ministers  of 
Geneva.  Servetus  well  understood  that  if  he  could 
free  himself  from  the  suspicion  of  being  a  man  of 
bad  repute,  and  dangerous  to  the  public  tranquil- 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETTJS.  105 

lity,  his  doctrine  by  itself  would  not  form  a  suffi- 
cient motive  for  condemning  him,  or,  at  least, 
would  not  draw  down  a  very  severe  castigation. 

When  the  sentence  was  irrevocably  passed,  Cal- 
vin and  his  colleagues  used  all  their  eiForts  to 
have  the  punishment  mitigated,  by  at  least  substi- 
tuting the  sword  for  the  fire,  but  "the  little  coun- 
cil rejected  the  request  of  Calvin.  It  is  to  him, 
notwithstanding,  that  men  have  always  imputed 
the  guilt  of  that  funeral  pile,  which  he  wished 
had  never  been  reared  V 


WHO  ARE  CALVIN'S  REVILERS  ? 

Calvin  thought  heresies  injurious  to  the  Church 
and  to  the  State  deserved  to  be  punished  with 
civil  penalties,  and  he  gave  evidence  to  prove  that 
Servetus  was  such  an  heretic.  This  he  did  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  such  was  the  universally 
prevalent  opinion.  It  is  therefore  concluded  that 
Calvin  was  a  ferocious  bigot  and  monster  of  cruelty 
— that  such  is  the  spirit  of  the  system  of  religion 
he  taught — and  that  such,  therefore,  is  the  sjnrit 
of  every  one  who  now  believes  that  system. 

And  who  are  they  that,  against  all  charity 
and  reason,  and  common  sense,  thus  teach  and 
affirm  ?  They  are,  first,  Papists ;  secondly,  Unita- 
rians ;  and  thirdly,  Infidels.  In  retorting  upon 
them  the  shamelessness  of  their  conduct,  I  will 
use  the  language  of  another. 

1.  What  eflTrontery  can  be  more  gross  than  the 
Popish  denunciation  of  Calvin  for  his  share  in  the 
10 


106  APPENDIX. 

trial,  and  liis  supposed  share  in  the  condemnation 
of  Servetus  I  The  Church  of  Rome  may  well  bear 
a  grudge  at  Calvin.  He  has  been,  and  by  the 
influence  of  his  writings  and  of  the  churches 
which  he  had  a  hand  in  forniino;,  he  continues  to 
be  one  of  their  most  formidable  foes ;  but  this 
constitutes  no  reason  for  such  impudent  injustice 
as  that  with  which  she  is  chargeable  when  she 
hunts  his  memory  as  a  persecutor.  We  do  not 
refer  to  Rome's  si/atematic  and  wholesale  persecu- 
tion— we  ask,  from  whom  was  Servetus  fleeing 
when  he  came  to  Geneva,  where  he  was  appre- 
hended and  tried?  He  was  fleeing  from  the 
Romish  Inquisition  at  Yienne,  in  France.  He 
was  about  to  be  condemned  by  that  body  to  the 
flames,  for  the  very  heresy  for  which  he  was  sub- 
sequently condemned  at  G-eneva.  Meanwhile,  he 
made  his  escape.  Did  the  Romish  Church  in 
tenderness,  and  relenting  here,  allow  the  matter 
to  drop  ?  No ;  though  the  accused  had  fled,  she 
pursued  the  case — condemned  Servetus  to  the 
flames — burnt  him  in  efiigy  amid  a  pile  of  his 
works,  sharing  the  same  fate — pronounced  him  an 
outlaw,  liable  to  the  stake  the  first  moment  he  re- 
turned to  the  territory  of  France.  Nay,  hearing 
that  he  had  been  apprehended  at  Geneva,  whither 
he  had  gone — not  kidnapped  by  Calvin,  but  as  to 
the  safest  asylum  then  existing — she  applied  to 
the  Genevese  magistrates  to  have  him  delivered 
up  to  her  summary  justice,  requesting  that  he 
might  be  sent  back  to  them,  that  they  might  ''in- 
flict the  said  sentence  (of  death),  the  execution  of 
which  would  punish  him  in  a  way  that  there 
would  be  no  need  to  seek  other  charges  against 
him!"    The  magistrates  refused  to  surrender  their 


THE   CASE   OF    SERVETUS.  107 

prisoner.  Not  that  they  had  any  wish,  probably, 
to  carry  out  the  trial;  it  would  have  saved  them 
much  trouble  to  have  resig-ned  him  into  the  hands 
of  those  from  whom  he  had  fled;  but  by  the  laws 
of  Geneva,  often,  and  even  recently  acted  upon, 
the  magistrates  were  not  entitled  to  surrender  an 
accused  prisoner,  even  though  the  crime  were  com- 
mitted beyond  their  territory.  They  were  bound 
to  try  the  case  for  themselves.  It  is  owing  to 
this  accident,  and  nothing  surely  could  be  more 
purely  accidental,  that  Servetus  was  burnt  at 
Geneva  by  Protestant  and  Erastian  magistrates, 
and  not  at  Vienne  by  Popish  inquisitors.  But 
for  this  accident  we  should  never  have  heard  of 
''  Calvin  and  Servetus.'''  The  name  of  the  latter 
would  have  been  lost  among  the  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  Romish  autos-da-fe ;  and 
Gibbon  would  have  had  all  the  cruelty  without 
being  '' scandalized. '^  It  maj^  be  added,  that  on 
the  poor  man  himself  being  asked,  whether  he 
would  remain  at  Geneva,  or  go  back  to  Yienne,  he 
implored  them  to  try  him  at  Geneva,  and  asked 
them, ''  above  all,  that  they  would  not  send  him  back 
to  Vienne/'  "This,"  adds Reilliet,  "was, amid  two 
evils,  to  shun  the  more  certain."  Servetus  had  had 
experience  of  the  intolerance  of  Popery  and  of  Pro- 
testantism, and,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Gibbon, 
he  thought  himself  safer  with  the  latter.  And 
here  as  we  have  seen,  he  would  probably  have 
escaped,  had  not  the  Popish  king  of  France  de- 
manded his  execution. 

Such  is  the  connection  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
with  the  case  of  Servetus;  and  is  it  possible  not 
to  be  filled  with  disgust  when  Papists  chime  in 
with  the  infidel  cry  against  the  Reformed  Church 


108  APPENDIX. 

and,  above  all,  against  John  Calvin,  as  the  atro- 
cious persecutor  of  Servetus  to  death  ?  From  tlie 
language  which  is  often  used,  one  would  suppose 
not  only  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  unstained 
with  human  blood,  but  that  she  bad  been  a  sor- 
rowing and  sympathizing  defender  of  Servetus 
during  all  the  days  of  his  trial,  and  particularly  on 
the  day  of  his  execution ;  that  she  had  stood  by 
him  when  Protestant  Christendom  was  up  in 
arms  against  him ;  and  that  she  fain,  at  any  sacri- 
fice, would  have  rescued  and  honoured  him.  How 
widely  different  the  facts  of  history!  Servetus 
was  twice  condemned  to  be  burnt;  and  the  first 
condemnation  to  burning  was  by  the  Church  of 
Rome !  and,  marvellous  to  tell,  her  educated  sup- 
porters have  the  face  of  brass  to  turn  around  and 
denounce  Calvin,  and  all  who  hold  the  theological 
views  and  system  of  Calvin,  as  the  exclusive  per- 
secutors of  Servetus,  and  in  representing  him  as 
guilty  of  a  crime  so  atrocious  as  to  overbalance 
and  obliterate  all  the  autos-da-fe  of  the  Romish 
Church  through  revolving  centuries !  Was  ever 
such  matchless  effrontery  manifested  out  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  ?  Ah,  the  insolence  and  credu- 
lity of  Popery  ! 

2.  And  now  in  regard  to  Infidelity.  She  came 
too  late  into  the  world  in  an  avowed  form  to  be  a 
very  open  persecutor,  unless,  indeed,  we  class 
many  of  the  leadiug  officials  of  the  Romish 
Church,  including  popes  and  cardinals  in  the 
number.  There  can  be  little  question  that,  under 
a  thin  disguise,  not  a  few  of  them  were  sceptics; 
and  if  they  were  persecutors,  as  we  know  they 
were,  then  we  have  a  specimen  of  persecution  in 
its  most  shocking  form — persecution  by  men   for 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETUS.  109 

not  belieYing  what  they  themselves  do  not  be- 
lieve. But  the  intolerance  of  Infidelity  is  not 
confined  to  such  cases.  Sociaianism  may  be  fairly 
ranked  with  scepticism.  It  disclaims  all  that  is 
•peculiar  in  divine  revelation.  Now  none  have 
been  greater  partisans  of  Servetus — none  more 
fierce  denouncers  of  Calvin,  than  just  the  Soci- 
nian  party.  Indeed,  if  there  were  any  religious 
body  bearing  the  Christian  name,  to  which  Ser- 
vetus might  be  said  to  belong,  the  Socinian  would 
be  that  body.  His  creed  was  nearer  to  theirs 
than  any  other.  His  party  have  all  along  given 
themselves  out  as  the  friends  of  free  inquiry,  of  can- 
dour, and  toleration — indeed,  they  have  assumed 
a  monopoly  of  such  qualities.  They  are,  jKir  ex- 
cellence, the  men  of  liberty,  civil  and  religious. 
All  else  are  but  bigots  and  slaves.  The  small 
amount  of  what  they  believe,  and  its  freedom 
from  the  mysterious,  they  hold,  gives  them  an 
advantage  over  others  in  the  way  of  loving  and 
practising  freedom. 

But  what  says  history  in  regard  to  their  prac- 
tice of  freedom  ?  Though  but  a  small  party,  seldom 
allied  with  civil  power  as  a  religious  body,  they 
have  continued  to  give  full  evidence  that  the 
spirit  of  intolerance  is  not  limited  to  Popery  or 
orthodox  Protestantism — that  it  is  natural  to  man 
and  that  there  is  nothing  in  their  religious  sys- 
tem, as  there  is  in  evangelical  religion,  to  stay  or 
extinguish  it.  Early  in  the  days  of  the  Reform- 
ation, Francis  David,  superintending  office-bearer 
of  a  Socinian  Church  in  Transylvania  was  thrown 
into  prison,  where  he  died,  by  his  own  Socinian 
friends.  For  what  reason  ?  Because  he  held  that 
Christy  beino;  a  creature^  should  not  be  prayed  to, 


110  APPENDIX. 

wlille  Socious  held  that  he  should  be  so  worvsliip- 
ped.  This  was  all  the  difference  in  belief  between 
David  and  Socinus — an  inconceivably  smaller  dif- 
ference than  between  Calvin  and  Servetus;  for 
both  ^'rational  Christians"  held  that  Christ  was 
merely  a  creature;  and  yet  there  was  imprison- 
ment, terminating  in  death.  Does  this  discover 
remarkable  candour  and  liberty?  Does  it  afford 
any  ground  for  the  Socinians  to  triumph,  not  over 
Calvin — for  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  sen- 
tence— but  over  the  Erastian  magistrates  of  Geneva 
when  they  condemned  Servetus  as  a  blasphemer 
as  well  as  a  heretic,  to  the  flames?  It  would 
seem  that  indifference  and  scepticism  in  religion 
do  not  diminish  severity  in  judging  of  others. 
Socinus,  according  to  the  difference  at  issue,  was 
a  greater  persecutor  than  the  magistracy  of  Gen- 
eva. Nor  was  this  a  solitary  instance  ;  the  same 
spirit  has  appeared  in  later  times.  The  Socinians 
assembled  at  Zurich  in  1818,  and  the  Socinian 
authorities,  in  Church  and  State,  as  well  as  the 
Socinian  populace  in  the  Canton  de  A^aud  in 
1824,  and  for  several  years  together,  not  forget- 
ting the  same  parties  in  Geneva  itself,  at  the 
same  period,  all  betrayed  a  spirit  of  as  real  perse- 
cution as  ever  appeared  in  Christendom;  and  then, 
it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  these  intolerant  and 
violent  proceedings  appeared  not  in  the  sixteenth 
or  seventeenth  century,  but  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth,  at  a  period  boasting  of  its  advance- 
ment in  knowledge,  and  liberality,  and  freedom. 
In  short,  with  the  exception  of  Popery,  which 
persecutes  upon  principle,  and  which,  therefore, 
is  ever  at  home  in  the  business,  the  latest  perse- 
cutors  in  Christendom   have  been   the   Socinian 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETUS.  Ill 

or  sceptical  party — the  very  party  "which,  all  the 
while,  has  been  making  a  boast  of  its  love  of  free 
inquiry,  and  almost  monopolizing  the  name  of 
freedom.  Persecuting  proceedings  at  the  present 
moment,  in  the  same  quarters  of  Switzerland, 
show,  it  would  seem,  that  Socinianism  and  Infidel- 
ity do  not  mean  to  make  any  change  in  the  intol- 
erant character  which  has  hitherto  belonged  to 
them.  Republicans  in  civil  politics,  and  Socin- 
ians,  if  not  Infidels  in  religion,  have  the  honour, 
along  with  old  Popery,  of  being  the  persecutors  of 
1846.  Perhaps  at  the  existing  moment  the  for- 
mer surpass  the  latter.  It  would  be  difficult,  in 
any  Popish  country,  pretending  to  any  measure  of 
light  or  freedom,  to  parallel  the  legislative  pro- 
ceedings and  the  practical  doings  of  the  Canton 
de  Vaud,  under  Socinian  and  Infidel  rule,  during 
the  last  six  months. 

But,  to  bring  out  the  intolerance  of  Infidelity 
proper,  we  must  turn  back  for  a  little  into  the  last, 
the  eighteenth  century.  Avowed  Infidels  have 
taken  great  credit  to  themselves  as  the  friends  and 
patrons  of  freedom,  and  have  even  cried  out  bit- 
terly against  the  supposed  severity  and  intolerance 
of  evangelical  religion,  particularly  in  its  Calvin- 
istic  form.  They  have  had  no  patience  for  the 
uncharitable  and  persecuting  spirit  of  "  the  saints," 
and  hence  "Calvin  and  Servetus"  has  proved  quite 
a  stock  in  trade  to  them.  But  have  they  really 
any  great  ground  of  boasting?  The  fact  of  their 
being  obliged  to  go  so  far  back — nearly  300  years 
— for  a  single  case,  is  rather  against  their  theory. 
We  do  not  need  to  turn  so  far  back  for  illustra- 
tions of  the  persecuting  character  of  Infidelity. 
Montesquieu,  in  his  "Esprit  des  Lois,"  lib.  12,  c. 


112  APPENDIX. 

5,  lias  the  candour  to  say:  ^'I  have  not  said  that 
it  is  not  necessary  to  punisli  heresy.  I  have  only 
said  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  very  circumspect 
in  punishing  it.^^  We  dare  say  that  none  of  the 
much-calumniated  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury would  quarrel  with  the  statement.  Is  it 
necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  sentiment 
of  Rousseau?  "The  only  way  to  hinder  fanati- 
cism (in  other  words,  evangelical  religion,)  is  to 
restrain  those  who  preach  it.  I  see  but  one  way 
to  stop  its  progress,  and  that  is  to  combat  it  with 
its  own  weapons.  Little  does  it  avail  to  reason 
or  convince;  you  must  lay  aside  philosophy,  shut 
your  books,  take  uj)  the  sicord,  and  punish  the 
knaves."  Not  long  after  the  days  of  Rousseau, 
there  was  an  opportunity  of  showing  what  French 
InJBdelity  understood  by  "fanaticism."  Chris- 
tianity in  any  form — corrupted,  as  well  as  true — 
including  the  Bible  and  the  Sabbath,  were  de- 
nounced as  a  fanaticism;  and  the  disciples  of 
Rousseau,  Voltaire,  Diderot,  &c.,  engaged  in  a 
fierce  and  bloody  persecution  of  the  Christian 
name,  in  point  of  atrocity  surpassed  only  by  the 
Popish  persecutions  of  the  middle  ages.  Where 
were  the  charity,  and  candour,  and  toleration  of 
Infidelity  in  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution  ? 
And  yet  her  crimes  were  perpetrated  in  the 
sacred  nameof  liberty  !  It  might  be  shown  that 
leading  British  Infidels,  such  as  Hume  and  Gib- 
bon, whatever  might  be  their  professed  principles, 
were  intolerant  in  practice,  so  far  as  their  circum- 
stances, and  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  indifierence 
to  all  religion,  would  allow.  It  is  notorious  that 
in  their  writings,  they  took  the  side  of  the 
oppressor    and    the    persecutor,    when    he    was 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETUS.  113 

arrayed  against  evangelical  triitli  and  its  friends. 
Their  sympathies  were  not  with  the  religious  suf- 
ferer, though  suffering  in  the  cause  of  civil  free- 
dom, but  with  the  tyrant  and  the  persecutor. 
Their  practical  treatment,  too,  of  men  holding 
evangelical  truth,  did  not  correspond  with  their 
professed  creed  of  universal  toleration  and  non- 
responsibility  for  error.  They  will  ever  be  found 
sarcastically  or  otherwise,  wounding  the  feelings 
of  Christians,  ridiculing  and  condemning  them; 
and,  in  short,  discovering  anything  but  a  toler- 
ant and  charitable  spirit.  Holding  the  views 
which  these  Infidels  maintained  on  the  subject  of 
truth  and  error,  they  ought  to  have  been  forbear- 
ing and  kind;  at  least,  full  of  commiseration  for 
evangelical  Christians.  Is  this  their  spirit  ?  Was 
it  this  spirit  which  characterized  Hume  in  his 
social  intercourse;  or  Gibbon,  when,  denouncing 
Calvin,  he  declared  that  he  was  more  scandalized 
by  his  supposed  connection  with  the  death  of  Ser- 
vetus,  than  with  all  the  burnings  of  the  Church  of 
Rome?  Even  a  recent  and  partial  biographer  of 
the  former  (Burton,)  speaking  of  an  early  work, 
says :  '^  Though  his  philosophy  (Hume's)  is  scep- 
tical, his  manner  is  frequently  dogmatical;  and 
while  illustrating  the  feebleness  of  all  human  rea- 
soning, he  seems  as  if  he  felt  a7i  innate  infalli- 
hility  in  his  own  !" 

But  the  inconsistencies  of  former  philosophers 
are  small  compared  with  those  of  a  modern  states- 
man and  author,  whose  religious  as  well  as  philo- 
sophical standing  we  feel  some  difficulty  in  ascer- 
taining. We  allude  to  Lord  Brougham.  No  man 
of  any  name  in  modern  times  has  been  more  un- 
merciful upon  Calvin  than  his  Lordship ;  and  cer- 


114  APPENDIX. 

tainly  no  one  has  betrayed  more  ignorance  of  the 
real  facts  of  the  case  which  has  drawn  forth  so 
keen  a  condemnation.  Yet,  of  all  men,  Lord 
Brougham  should  have  been  the  most  tolerant 
and  candid.  If  he  does  not  belong  to  the  scepti- 
cal, he  at  least  belongs  to  the  yery  liberal  school. 
He  has  proclaimed  as  the  very  foundation  of 
toleration,  and  that  with  a  most  oracular  voice, 
that  a  man  is  no  more  responsible  for  what  he  be- 
lieves than  for  the  hue  of  his  skin  or  the  height  of 
his  stature.  His  name  was  wont  to  be  associated 
with  the  advocacy  of  all  that  was  free,  whether 
civil  or  religious.  Surely,  then,  Brougham  should 
have  pitied  Calvin,  and  been  kind  and  charitable 
in  his  judgment.  The  Reformer  believed,  as  a 
general  doctrine,  that  flagrant  and  incorrigible 
heretics  and  blasphemers  should  be  punished. 
Such  was  his  deliberate  conviction.  For  this  con- 
viction he  was  no  more  responsible  than  for  the 
hue  of  his  skin  and  the  height  of  his  stature. 
And  why,  then,  does  Lord  Brougham  blame  him, 
and  mercilessly  misrepresent  and  traduce  him  for 
this  his  sober  belief,  any  more  than  for  his  com- 
plexion and  his  stature?  Does  the  result  not 
plainly  show,  that  Liberalism  in  religion  and 
politics,  whatever  it  may  pretend,  is  essentially 
intolerant  and  persecuting?  and  if  this  be  its 
character  in  the  hands  or  heart  of  Lord  Brougham, 
who  had  so  many  reasons  for  being,  in  this  respect, 
on  his  good  behaviour,  how  much  stronger  must 
the  same  intolerant  persecuting  spirit  prove  in 
those  who  are  less  under  restraint!  Well  may 
we  ask,  Is  Brougham  the  man  to  condemn  the 
intolerance  of  Calvin  ?  Intolerant  himself  with- 
out a  reason — or  rather  in  the  face  of  strong  rea- 


THE   CASE   OF   SERVETUS.  115 

sons  to  the  reverse — intolerant  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  is  he  the  man,  especially  holding  his  own 
doctrine  of  non-responsibility,  to  rebuke  the  in- 
tolerance of  the  sixteenth  century  ?  What  can 
be  more  ludicrous  and  inconsistent?  Nothins: 
save  what  proceeds  from  the  same  mint,  and  the 
new  coinage  has  appeared  but  yesterday.  Lord 
Brougham  sets  himself  forth  as  the  very  patron 
and  pattern  of  freedom  in  every  form;  so  much 
so  that  contrary  to  his  own  principles,  he  is  enti- 
tled to  rebuke  with  all  severity  the  great  Genevan 
Reformer,  within  the  British  Senate,  300  years 
after  he  has  passed  to  his  account.  Surely,  then 
modern  Liberalism  must  be  tolerant  and  charita- 
ble; indeed  the  very  foe  of  whatever  savours  of 
persecution.  What  is  the  fact  ?  Lord  Brougham 
but  the  other  day,  vindicated  the  Scottish  site-re- 
fusers,  contending  that  their  proceedings  were 
involved  in  the  just  rights  of  landed  property ! 
The  man  who  condemns  Calvin  as  the  most  atro- 
cious of  persecutors,  sees  no  persecution  (pity  but 
that  he  could /ee/ enough  to  know  it !)  in  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  his  countrymen,  far  more  devout 
and  religiously  intelligent  than  himself,  being 
denied  a  piece  of  ground  on  which  they  may  wor- 
ship God,  and  being  compelled,  for  summer  and 
winter  together,  to  conduct  their  service  under 
the  open  canopy  of  heaven.  Lord  Brougham 
sees  no  persecution  in  large  congregations  being 
driven  to  the  high-roads  or  the  sea-shore,  and  be- 
ing kept  there  for  their  religious  worship  since 
May  1843  to  the  present  hour — August  1846. 
According  to  his  lordship's  principle,  there  is  no 
persecution,  though  this  state  of  things  should  be 
perpetrated  for  ever.     Nay,  he  is  indignant  that 


116  APPENDIX. 

any  one  should  deem  this  to  be  persecution,  and 
will  not  allow  it  to  be  so  declared  in  his  presence 
without  an  immediate  and  much-offended  contra- 
diction; and  this  is  the  liberal-minded  censor  of 
the  intolerant  Calvin !  Who  can  compare  the 
two  cases,  and  the  part  which  Calvin  took  in  the 
trial  of  Servetus  (for  he  had  no  hand  in  the  sen- 
tence) a  solitary  case  of  severity — with  the  open, 
wilful,  wanton  oppression  of  multitudes  for  years, 
in  free  Britain  in  the  free  nineteenth  century, 
and  not  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  all  circum- 
stances considered,  the  one  is  much  more  aggra- 
vated and  inexcusable  than  the  other  ?  But  it  is 
not  needful  to  enter  into  any  comparison.  All  that 
we  intended  to  show,  and  with  this  remark  we 
close,  is  that  Infidelity,  in  its  different  forms  of 
Socinianism,  avowed  Scepticism,  and  irreligious 
Liberalism,  is  most  unjust  in  its  judgment  of 
Calvin  in  the  matter  of  Servetus;  and,  instead  of 
being  so  candid  and  tolerant  in  itself  as  to  be  en- 
titled to  take  high  ground,  and  become  the  re- 
prover of  others,  is  essentially  intolerant,  and  is 
much  less  excusable  in  its  intolerance  than  the 
men  of  the  sixteenth  century. —  The  Free  Church 
Magazine. 


APPENDIX    II. 


THE  WILL  OF  JOHN  CALVIN. 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord — Amen.  In  the  year 
15G-i,  and  25th  day  of  April,  I,  Peter  ChenaL^t, 
citizen  and  notary  of  Geneva,  do  witness  and  de- 
clare, that  I  was  sent  for  by  that  excellent  charac- 
ter, John  Calvin,  minister  of  the  word  of  God  in 
this  church  of  Geneva,  and  enrolled  citizen  of  the 
same,  who,  being  indisposed  in  body,  but  sound  in 
mind,  said  he  was  desirous  to  make  his  testament, 
and  to  express  the  judgment  of  his  last  will;  and 
requested  me  to  take  it  down,  and  write  what  he 
should  dictate  and  declare  by  word  of  mouth; 
which  I  profess  I  immediately  did,  and  wrote 
down  word  by  word  as  he  pronounced  and  dictated, 
without  omission  or  addition,  in  the  following 
form,  dictated  by  him  : 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord — Amen,  I,  John 
Calvin,  minister  of  the  word  of  God  in  the  church 
of  Geneva,  finding  myself  so  much  oppressed  and 
afflicted  with  various  diseases,  that  I  think  the 
Lord  God  has  determined  speedily  to  remove  me 
out  of  this  world,  have  ordered  to  be  made  and 
written,  my  testament,  and  declaration  of  my  last 
will,  in  form  and  manner  following:  First,  I  give 
thanks  to  God,  that  taking  compassion  on  me 
whom  he  had  created  and  placed  in  this  world, 
he  not  only  delivered  me  by  his  power  out  of  the 
11  (117) 


118  APPENDIX. 

deep  darkness  of  idolatry,  into  which  I  was 
plunged,  that  he  might  bring  me  into  the  light  of 
his  gospel,  and  make  me  a  partaker  of  the  doc- 
trine of  salvation,  of  which  I  was  most  unworthy ; 
that  with  the  same  goodness  and  mercy  he  has 
graciously  and  kindly  borne  with  my  multiplied 
trant^gressions  and  sins,  for  which  I  deserved  to 
be  rejected  and  cut  off  by  him;  and  has  also  exer- 
cised towards  me  such  great  compassion  and 
clemency,  that  he  has  condescended  to  use  my 
labour  in  preaching  and  publishing  the  truth  of 
his  gospel.  I  also  testify  and  declare,  that  it  is 
my  full  intention  to  pass  the  remainder  of  my 
life  in  the  same  faith  and  religion,  which  he  has 
delivered  to  me  by  his  gospel ;  having  no  other 
defence  or  refuge  of  salvation  than  his  gratui- 
tous adoption,  on  which  alone  my  safety  depends. 
I  also  embrace  with  my  whole  heart  the  mercy 
which  he  exercises  towards  me  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ,  atoning  for  my  crimes  by  the  merits 
of  his  death  and  passion,  that  in  this  way  satisfac- 
tion may  be  made  for  all  my  transgressions  and 
offences,  and  the  remembrance  of  them  blotted 
out.  I  further  testify  and  declare  that,  as  a  sup- 
pliant, I  humbly  implore  of  him  to  grant  me  to  be 
so  washed  and  purified  by  the  blood  of  that  sove- 
reign Redeemer,  shed  for  the  sins  of  the  human 
race,  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  stand  before  his 
tribunal  in  the  image  of  the  Ptedeemer  himself. 
I  likewise  declare,  that  according  to  the  measure 
of  grace  and  mercy  which  God  has  vouchsafed 
me,  I  have  diligently  made  it  my  endeavour, 
both  in  my  sermons,  writings,  and  commentaries, 
purely  and  uncorruptly  to  preach  his  word,  and 
faithfully  to  interpret  his  sacred  Scriptures.      I 


Calvin's  will.  119 

testify  and  declare  that  in  all  the  controversies 
and  disputes,  which  I  have  conducted  with  the 
enemies  of  the  gospel,  I  have  made  use  of  no 
craftiness,  nor  corrupt  and  sophistical  arts,  but 
have  been  engaged  in  defending  the  truth  with 
candour  and  sincerity. 

But,  alas!  my  study,  and  my  zeal,  if  they  de- 
serve the  name,  have  been  so  remiss  and  languid, 
that  I  confess  innumerable  things  have  been 
wanting  in  me  to  discharge  the  duties  of  my  office 
in  an  excellent  manner;  and  unless  the  infinite 
bounty  of  Grod  had  been  present,  all  my  study 
would  have  been  vain  aad  transient.  I  also  ac- 
knowledge that  unless  the  same  goodness  had 
accompanied  me,  the  endowments  of  mind  bestow- 
ed upon  me  by  God,  must  have  made  me  more 
and  more  chargeable  with  guilt  and  inactivity 
before  his  tribunal.  And  on  these  grounds  I  wit- 
ness and  declare,  that  I  hope  for  no  other  refuge 
of  salvation  than  this  alone — that  since  God  is  a 
Father  of  mercy,  he  will  show  himself  a  Father  to 
me,  who  confess  myself  a  miserable  sinner. 
Further,  I  will,  after  my  departure  out  of  this  life, 
that  my  body  be  committed  to  the  earth  in  that 
manner,  and  with  those  funeral  rites,  which  are 
usual  in  this  city  and  church,  until  the  day  of 
the  blessed  resurrection  shall  come.  As  for  the 
small  patrimony  which  God  has  bestowed  upon 
me,  and  which  I  have  determined  to  dispose  of 
in  this  will,  I  appoint  Anthony  Calvin,  my  very 
dearly  beloved  brother,  my  heir,  but  only  as  a 
mark  of  respect.  Let  him  take  charge  of,  and 
keep  as  his  own,  my  silver  goblet,  which  was  given 
me  as  a  present  by  Mr.  Yaranne:  and  I  desire  he 
will  be  content  with  it.     As  for  the  residue  of  my 


120  APPENDIX. 

property,  I  commit  it  to  his  care  with  this  request, 
that  he  restore  it  to  his  children  at  his  death.  I 
bequeath  also  to  the  school  for  boys,  ten  golden 
crowns,  to  be  given  by  my  brother  and  legal  heir, 
and  to  poor  strangers  the  same  sum.  Also  to 
Jane,  daughter  of  Charles  Costans  and  of  my  half- 
sister  by  the  paternal  side,  the  sum  of  ten  crowns. 
Furthermore,  I  wish  my  heir  to  give,  on  his  death, 
to  Samuel  and  John,  sons  of  my  said  brother,  my 
nephews,  out  of  my  estate,  each  forty  crowns,  after 
his  death;  and  to  my  nieces  Ann,  Susan,  and  Doro- 
thy, each  thirty  golden  crowns.  To  my  nephew 
David,  as  a  proof  of  his  light  and  trifling  conduct, 
I  bequeath  only  twenty-five  golden  crowns. 

This  is  the  sum  of  all  the  patrimony  and  pro- 
perty which  God  hath  given  me,  as  far  as  I  am 
able  to  ascertain,  in  books,  movables,  my  whole 
household  furniture,  and  all  other  goods  and  chat- 
tels. Should  it,  however,  prove  more,  I  desire  it 
may  be  equally  distributed  between  my  nephews 
and  nieces  aforesaid,  not  excluding  my  nephew 
David,  should  he,  by  the  favour  of  God,  return  to 
a  useful  manner  of  life. 

Should  it,  however,  exceed  the  sum  already 
written,  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  attended  with 
much  difficulty,  especially  after  paying  my  just 
debts,  which  I  have  given  in  charge  to  my  said 
brother,  in  whose  fidelity  and  kindness  I  confide. 
On  this  account  I  appoint  him  executor  of  this 
my  last  testament,  with  Laurence  de  Normandie, 
a  character  of  tried  worth,  giving  them  full  power 
and  authority,  without  a  more  exact  command  and 
order  of  court,  to  make  an  inventory  of  my  goods. 
I  give  them  also  power  to  sell  my  movables,  that 
from  the  money  thus  procured  they  may  fulfil  the 


Calvin's  will.  121 

conditions  of  my  above-written  will,  which  I  have 
.set  forth  and  declared  this  25th  day  of  April,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1564. 

John  Calvin. 

When  I,  Peter  Chenalat,  the  above-mentioned 
notary,  had  written  this  last  will,  the  same  John 
Calvin  immediately  confirmed  it  by  his  usual  sub- 
scription and  hand-writing.  On  the  following  day, 
April  26th,  1564,  the  same  tried  character,  John 
Calvin,  commanded  me  to  be  called,  together  with 
Theodore  Beza,  Raymond  Chauvet,  Michael  Cops, 
Louis  Enoch,  Nicholas  Colladon,  James  de  Bordes, 
ministers  and  preachers  of  the  word  of  God  in 
this  church  of  Geneva,  and  also  the  excellent 
Henry  Scringer,  professor  of  arts,  all  citizens  of 
Geneva,  and  in  their  presence  he  hath  declared 
and  testified  that  he  dictated  to  me  this  his  will, 
in  the  words  and  form  above  written.  He  ordered 
me  also  to  recite  it  in  their  hearing,  who  had  been 
called  for  that  purpose,  which  I  profess  to  have 
done,  with  a  loud  voice,  and  in  an  articulate  man- 
ner. After  thus  reading:  it  aloud,  he  testified  and 
declared  it  to  be  his  last  will  and  testament,  and 
desired  it  to  be  ratified  and  confirmed.  As  a  tes- 
timony and  corroboration  of  this,  he  requested 
them  all  to  witness  the  same  will  with  their  hands. 
This  was  immediately  done  by  them  on  the  day 
and  year  above  written,  at  Geneva,  in  the  street 
called  the  Canons,  in  the  house  of  the  said  testa- 
tor. In  proof  and  witness  of  this  I  have  written 
and  subscribed,  with  my  own  hand,  and  sealed, 
with  the  common  seal  of  our  supreme  magistrate, 
the  will  above-mentioned. 

P.  Chenalat. 
11* 


APPENDIX   III. 


CALVIN'S  VIEWS  OF  PRELACY. 

On  this  subject  we  will  present  to  our  readers 
the  letters  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller  in  reply  to 
Bishop  Ives,*  which  appeared  in  the  Presbyterian 
in  January,  1842. 

L  E  T  T  ER     I  . 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Presbyterian. 

Reverend  and  Dear  Brother — The  fol- 
lowing letter,  and  another  which  you  will  receive 
in  a  few  days,  were  written  a  number  of  weeks 
ago,  and  sent  to  Lincolnton,  in  North  Carolina, 
for  insertion  in  the  "Lincoln  Republican,"  a 
weekly  journal  printed  in  that  town.  Very  un- 
expectedly to  me,  the  editor  of  that  paper,  after 
publishing  Bishop  Ives's  letter,  refused  to  give 
admission  to  my  reply.  On  learuing  this,  I  re- 
quested the  friend  to  whose  care  my  communica- 
tions had  been  sent,  to  transmit  them  to  the 
*'  Watchman  of  the  South,''  in  whose  pages  they 

*  This  is  the  gentleman  who  has  figured  so  much  of 
late,  as  a  convert  to  Popery,  having  resigned  into  the 
hands  of  the  Pope  the  insignia  of  his  office  as  Bishop 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  North  Carolina. — Editor  of 
the  Board. 

(122) 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         123 

would  be  likely  to  be  seen  by  a  large  number  of 
tbose  who  had  been  readers  of  the  "  Lincoln  Re- 
publican." But  as  Bishop's  Ives's  letter  has 
been  republished  in  at  least  one  paper  in  your 
city,  and  as  in  my  reply  to  an  attack  in  that 
paper,  which  you  were  so  good  as  to  publish,  I 
referred  to  the  letters  which  had  been  sent  to 
North  Carolina  for  further  light  on  the  same 
subject,  I  hope  you  will  do  me  the  favour  to  aive 
insertion  in  the  Freshyterian  to  the  first  letter, 
which  you  will  receive  herewith ;  and  also  to  the 
second,  which,  with  the  permission  of  Providence, 
will  reach  you  next  week. 

I  make  no  apology,  Mr.  Editor,  for  the  trouble 
which  I  have  given  you,  for  several  weeks  past, 
in  consequence  of  these  ecclesiastical  polemics. 
I  regret  them  as  much  as  any  one  can  do. 
They  were  not  of  my  seeking.  I  am  not  con- 
scious on  this,  or  on  any  other  occasion,  of  hav- 
ing ever  gone  into  the  field  of  denominational 
controversy,  excepting  when  forced  into  it  by 
fidelity  to  my  beloved  Church,  and  to  her  Head, 
my  blaster  in  heaven.  To  that  high  responsi- 
bility, however  irksome  controversy  may  be,  es- 
pecially at  my  time  of  life,  I  hope  I  shall  never 
be  suffered  to  be  recreant.  It  would  be  much 
more  agreeable  to  me  to  have  no  warfare  but  with 
the  open  enemies  of  our  "  common  salvation,'' 
but  surely  complaints  of  "attack"  come  with 
rather  an  ill  grace  from  those  who  scarcely  ever 
issue  a  paper  without  loading  it  with  offensive 
missiles  against  all  who  are  out  of  their  pale.  It 
has  often  amused  me  to  see  what  a  morbid  sensi- 
bility to  what  they  called  "  attacks,"  was  mani- 
fested   by   those    who   were    constantly   dealing 


124         '  APPENDIX. 

around  them  ^^ firebrands  and  arrows,"  and  pro- 
fessing at  the  same  time,  in  words,  to  be  "fierce 
for  moderation/'  and  "furious  for  peace."  I  am, 
mj  dear  sir,  very  respectfully  yours, 

Samuel  Miller. 

Princeton,  January  24, 1842. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Lincoln  Republican. 

Sir — It  was  not  until  this  day  that  I  saw,  in 
your  paper  of  the  10th  instant,  a  letter  from 
Bishop  Ives,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  me,  directed 
to  a  clerical  friend  in  your  neis^hbourhood,  and 
published  in  your  paper  a  few  weeks  before. 

My  letter  was  a  private  one,  and  published 
altogether  without  my  consent.  I  kept  no  copy 
of  it,  and  while  I  distinctly  remember  its  general 
substance,  I  have  not  the  least  recollection  of  its 
language.  The  Bishop  complains  of  the  language 
as  strongly  characterized  by  asperity  and  posi- 
tiveness.  As  I  have  never  seen  even  the  printed 
copy,  as  it  appeared  in  your  paper,  I  am  wholly 
unable  to  make  any  other  reply  to  this  charge, 
than  to  say  that,  as  I  felt  strongly  on  the  subject, 
and  was  perfectly  confident  that  the  allegations 
which  I  opposed  were  altogether  unfounded,  I 
think  it  probable,  that  in  a  private  letter  to  a 
friend,  I  expressed  myself  in  terms  which  would 
have  been  modified  if  I  had  felt  myself  to  be 
writing  for  the  public  eye.  I  had  an  interview 
with  Bishop  Ives,  in  this  place,  since  the  date  of 
his  letter ;  but  as  I  had  not  the  least  knowledge, 
at  that  time,  of  the  publication  of  my  own  letter, 
or  of  his  reply  to  it,  nothing,  of  course,  respect- 
ing the  matter  passed  at  that  interview. 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         125 

More  than  two  months  ago,  a  correspondent  in 
North  Carolina  informed  me  that  Bishop  Ives,  in 
a  public  discourse  delivered  a  short  time  before, 
alleged  that  the  celebrated  Reformer,  Calvin,  had 
avowed  a  belief  in  the  divine  institution  of  Epis- 
copacy, and  had  requested  to  receive  Episcopal 
ordination  from  the  bishops  of  England.  My 
correspondent  requested  me  to  inform  him  whe- 
ther there  was  any  foundation  for  this  statement. 
I  ventured,  without  hesitation,  to  assure  him  that 
there  was  not,  and  that  no  well-informed  person 
could  possibly  make  it.  I  have  no  recollection  of 
having  impeached  the  honesty  or  the  veracity  of 
the  reverend  preacher ;  for  I  had  no  doubt  that 
he  made  the  statement  on  evidence  which  he 
deemed  sufficient ;  and  I  have  still  no  doubt  that 
he  verily  believed  what  he  stated  to  be  strictly 
true.  But  I  meant  to  express,  and  presume  I 
did  express,  strong  confidence  that  the  represen- 
tation which  he  made  was  entirely  incorrect. 
Bishop  Ives  is  equally  confident  that  his  represen- 
tation was  well  founded;  and,  in  his  reply  to  my 
published  letter,  has  made  statements  which  he 
seems  to  think  perfectly  decisive,  and  which,  I 
dare  say,  many  others  will  deem  equally  decisive, 
in  support  of  his  representation.  And  yet  I  will 
again  assert,  and  hope  I  shall  make  it  appear  to 
the  satisfaction  of  every  candid  reader,  that  that 
representation  is  destitute  of  all  solid  support  in 
historical  verity. 

The  first  testimony  which  Bishop  Ives  adduces 
in  support  of  his  former  statement,  is  in  the  fol- 
lowing words:  '' In  his  commentary  upon  1  Tim. 
iv.  14,  a  passage  so  much  relied  upon  by  Presby- 
terians, he  gives  an  interpretation  which  makes  it 


126  APPENDIX. 

perfectly  consistent  with  tlie  Episcopal  character 
of  Timothy.'^ 

The  passage,  in  our  common  translation,  reads 
thus  :  "Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which 
was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  the  presbytery/^ 

Calvin's  commentary  is  as  follows  :  "He  admon- 
ishes him  that  he  should  employ  the  grace  with 
which  he  was  endowed  for  the  edification  of  the 
Church.  For  it  is  not  the  will  of  the  Lord  that 
those  talents  should  perish,  or  be  uselessly  buried 
in  the  earth,  which  he  has  deposited  with  any 
one  to  be  profitably  used.  To  neglect  a  gift,  is, 
through  sloth  and  negligence  to  leave  it  unem- 
ployed; so  that,  given  up,  as  it  were,  to  rust,  it 
is  worn  out  in  no  useful  service.  Therefore  let 
each  of  us  consider  what  abilities  he  has,  that  he 
may  sedulously  apply  them  to  some  use.  He  says 
that  the  grace  was  given  to  him  hy  prophecy. 
How?  Doubtless  (as  we  said  before)  beause  the 
Holy  Spirit,  by  revelation,  had  appointed  Timothy 
to  be  set  apart  to  the  office  of  a  pastor;  for  he  had 
not  been  chosen  only  by  man's  judgment,  as  is 
customary,  but  by  the  previous  declaration  of  the 
Spirit.  He  says  that  it  was  conferred  with  the 
laying  on  of  hands;  by  which  is  meant  that,  in 
addition  to  the  ministerial  office,  he  was  furnished 
also  with  the  necessary  gifts.  It  was  a  settled 
custom  of  the  Apostles  to  ordain  ministers  with 
the  imposition  of  hands;  and,  indeed,  concerning 
this  rite,  its  origin  and  meaning,  I  have  treated 
at  some  length  before,  and  a  full  account  may  be 
found  in  the  Institutes.  Presbytery — Those  who 
think  that  this  is  a  collective  name  put  for  the  col- 
lege of  Preshyters,  in  my  opinion  judge  correctly. 


CALVIN^S  VIEWS   OP  PRELACY.  127 

Altliouo;li,  all  things  considered,  I  confess  there 
is  another  sense  not  unsuitable,  viz.  that  it  is  the 
name  of  an  office.  The  ceremony  he  has  put  for 
the  act  of  ordination  itself.  Therefore  the  sense 
is,  that  Timothy,  when  called  to  the  ministry  by 
the  voice  of  the  prophets,  and  afterwards  ordained 
by  the  customary  rite,  was,  at  the  same  time,  fur- 
nished for  the  performance  of  his  duties  by  the 
grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit — whence  we  infer  that 
it  was  not  an  empty  rite,  for  to  that  consecra- 
tion which  men  represented  jfiguratively  by  the 
imposition  of  hands,  God  imparted  reality,  (or 
ratification)  by  his  Spirit." 

This  is  Calvin's  commentary  on  the  passage  in 
question,  and  it  is  the  whole  of  it.  He  who  can 
find  anytliing  favourable  to  the  Episcopal  charac- 
ter of  Timothy  here,  will  be  at  no  loss  to  find  it 
in  any  document  on  earth.  The  only  thing  no- 
ticeable in  its  bearing  on  that  point  is  the  sug- 
gestion, that  while  in  the  opinion  of  Calvin  the 
term  Presbytery  means  the  bench  or  body  of  Pres- 
byters, it  may  mean  the  name  of  an  office.  But 
surely  this  makes  nothing  in  favour  of  the  prela- 
tical  character  of  Timothy  ]  for  if  this  sense  be 
admitted,  then  the  statement  will  be  that  Timothy 
was  ordained  to  the  office  of  the  Presbyterate,  or 
was  made  a  Presbyter. 

The  Bishop  next  produces  a  fragment  from 
Calvin's  commentary  on  Titus  i.  5,  which  he  thus 
translates:  "We  learn  also  from  this  place  that 
there  was  not  then  such  an  equality  among  the 
ministers  of  the  Church,  but  that  some  one  had 
the  pre-eminence  in  authority  and  counsel." 

The  candid  reader  will  doubtless  feel  astonished 


128  APPENDIX. 

■when  he  reads  this  passage  in  connection  with  the 
context  in  which  it  stands — It  is  as  follows : 

^^  Presbyters  or  Elders,  it  is  well  known,  are  not 
so  denominated  on  account  of  their  age,  since 
young  men  are  sometimes  chosen  to  this  office,  as, 
for  instance,  Timothy;  but  it  has  always  been 
customary,  in  all  ages,  to  apply  this  title,  as  a 
term  of  honour,  to  all  rulers — and  as  we  gather, 
from  the  first  Epistle  to  Timothy,  that  there  were 
two  hinds  of  Elders,  so  here  the  context  shows 
that  no  other  than  teaching  Elders  are  to  be  un- 
derstood ;  that  is,  those  who  were  ordained  to  teachy 
because  the  same  persons  are  immediately  after- 
wards called  Bishops.  It  may  be  objected  that 
too  much  power  seems  to  be  given  to  Titus,  when 
the  Apostle  commands  him  to  appoint  ministers 
over  all  the  churches.  This,  it  may  be  said,  is 
little  less  than  kingly  power;  for  on  this  plan,  the 
right  of  choice  is  taken  away  from  the  particular 
churches,  and  the  right  of  judging  in  the  case 
from  the  college  of  pastors — and  this  would  be  to 
profane  the  whole  of  the  sacred  discipline  of  the 
Church.  But  the  answer  is  easy.  Everything 
was  not  entrusted  to  Titus  as  an  individual,  nor 
was  he  allowed  to  impose  such  Bishops  on  the 
churches  as  he  pleased;  but  he  was  commanded 
to  preside  in  the  elections  as  a  Moderator,  as  it  is 
necessary  for  some  one  to  do.  This  is  a  mode  of 
speaking  exceedingly  common.  Thus  a  Consul 
or  Regent  or  Dictator  is  said  to  create  Consuls, 
because  he  convenes  assemblies  for  the  purpose  of 
making  choice  of  them.  So  also,  Luke  uses  the 
same  mode  of  speaking  concerning  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles;  not  that  they 
alone  authoritatively  appointed  pastors   over  the 


Calvin's  views  op  prelacy.        129 

churclies  without  their  being  tried  or  approved ; 
but  they  ordained  suitable  men,  who  had  been 
elected  or  chosen  by  the  people.  We  learn  also 
from  this  place,  that  there  was  not,  then,  such  an 
equality  among  the  ministers  of  the  Church  as  was 
inconsistent  with  some  one  of  them  presiding  in 
authority  and  counsel.  This,  however,  is  nothing 
like  the  tyrannical  and  profane  Prelacy  which 
reigns  in  the  Papacy:  the  plan  of  the  Apostles  was 
altogether  different.'' 

Is  the  reader  prepared  to  find  Bishop  Ives  sepa- 
rating the  last  sentence  but  one  in  this  paragraph 
from  what  preceded  and  what  follows,  and  calling 
it  a  declaration  in  favour  of  Episcopacy ^  when  its 
whole  tenor  is  directly  the  other  way?  If  the 
Bishop  had  read  one  page  further  on,  he  would 
have  found  in  Calvin's  commentary  on  verse  7th 
of  the  same  chapter,  the  following  still  more 
explicit  declarations : 

*' Moreover,  this  place  abundantly  teaches  us 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  Freshyters  and 
Bishops,  because  the  Apostle  now  calls  promis- 
cuously by  the  second  of  these  names  those  whom 
he  had  before  called  Presbyters — and  indeed  the 
argument  which  follows  employs  both  names 
indifferently  in  the  same  sense,  which  Jerome 
hath  observed,  as  well  in  his  commentary  on  this 
passage,  as  in  his  Epistle  to  Evagrius.  And 
hence  we  may  .see  how  more  has  been  yielded  to 
the  opinions  of  men  than  was  decent,  because  the 
style  of  the  Holy  Spirit  being  abrogated,  a  cus- 
tom introduced  by  the  will  of  man  prevailed.  I 
do  not,  indeed,  disapprove  of  the  opinion  that, 
soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  Church,  every 
college  of  Bishops  had  some  one  to  act  as  Moder- 
12 


130  APPENDIX. 

ator.  But  ttat  a  name  of  office  which  God  had 
given  in  common  to  all,  should  be  transferred  to 
an  individual  alone,  the  rest  being  rohhed  of  ity 
was  both  injurious  and  absurd.  Wherefore,  so 
to  pervert  the  language  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  that 
the  same  expressions  should  convey  a  meaning  to 
us  different  from  that  which  he  intended,  partakes 
too  much  of  profane  audacity J^ 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  work  which 
contains  this  passage  was  published  in  1549,  in 
the  reign  oi  Edward  VI.;  and  when  Calvin  was 
carrying  on  a  friendly  correspondence  with  Arch- 
bishop Oranmer — yet  he  did  not  hesitate  then  to 
avow  his  Presbyterian  sentiments. 

Again:  in  his  commentary  on  1  Peter  v.  1, 
written  in  1551,  and  dedicated  to  Edward  YI. 
of  England,  Calvin  thus  speaks : 

'■'■  Presbyters. — By  this  title  he  designates  pastors, 
and  whoever  were  appointed  to  the  government  of 
the  Church.  And  since  Peter  calls  himself  a 
Fresbyter,  like  the  rest,  it  is  hence  apparent  that 
this  name  was  common,  which,  indeed,  from 
many  other  passages,  appears  still  more  clearly. 
Moreover,  by  this  title  he  claimed  to  himself 
authority,  as  if  he  had  said  that  he  admon- 
ished pastors  in  his  own  right,  because  he  was 
one  of  their  number,  for  among  colleagues  there 
ought  to  be  this  mutual  privilege :  whereas  if  he 
had  enjoyed  any  pre-eminence  of  authority  among 
them,  he  might  have  urged  that,  and  it  would 
have  been  more  pertinent  to  the  occasion.  But 
although  he  was  an  Apostle,  yet  he  knew  this 
gave  him  no  authority  over  his  colleagues,  but 
that  he  was  rather  joined  with  the  rest  in  a  social 
oifice.^' 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.        131 

Bishop  Ives,  as  a  fiirttier  proof  that  Calvin  was 
persuaded  of  the  Divine  right  of  Prehicy,  tells  us 
that  in  his  commentary  on  G-alatians  ii.  9,  he 
represents  it  as  "  highly  probable  that  St.  James 
was  'prefect  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem/'  "Now," 
says  he,  '•^  2^  prefect  is  a  chief  and  permanent  ruler 
of  others."  Here  again  the  slightest  inspection 
of  what  Calvin  does  really  and  truly  say,  will 
sufficiently  refute  this  construction  of  his  language. 
It  is  this : 

^'  When  the  question  is  here  concerning  dig- 
nity, it  may  seem  wonderful  that  Jcimes  should 
be  preferred  to  Peter.  Perhaps  that  might  have 
have  been  done  because  he  was  the  president^ 
(praefectus)  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem.  In 
regard  to  what  may  be  included  in  the  title  of 
^'  Pillars/'  we  know  that  it  is  so  ordered  in  the 
nature  of  things,  that  those  who  excel  others  in 
talents,  in  prudence,  or  in  other  gifts,  are  also 
superior  in  authority.  So  in  the  Church  of  God, 
by  how  much  any  one  excels  in  grace  by  so  much 
ought  he  to  be  preferred  in  honour.  For  it  is 
ingratitude,  nay  it  is  impiety,  not  to  do  homage 
to  the  Spirit  of  Grod  wherever  he  appears  in  his 
gifts.  Hence  it  is,  that  as  a  people  cannot  do 
without  a  pastor,  so  every  assembly  of  pastors 
needs  some  one  to  act  as  moderator.  But  it  ought 
ever  to  be  so  ordered  that  he  who  is  first  of  all 
should  be  a  servant,  according  to  Matthew  xxiii. 
12." 

In  his  commentary  on  Acts  xx.  28,  written  in 
1560,  a  few  years  before  his  death,  Calvin  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  "  Concerning  the  word 
Bishop,  it  is  observable  that  Paul  gives  this  title 
to  all  the  Elders  of  Ephesus;  from  which  we  may 


132  APPENDIX. 

infer,  that,  according;  to  Scripture,  Preshi/ters  dif- 
fered, in  DO  respect,  from  Bishops;  but  that  it 
arose  from  corruptinn  and  a  departure  from 
primitive  purity^  tliat  those  who  held  the  first 
seats  in  particuhir  cities  began  to  be  called  Biah- 
ops.  I  say  that  it  arose  from  corruption,  not  that 
it  is  an  evil  for  some  one  in  each  college  of  pas- 
tors to  be  distinguished  above  the  rest;  but  be- 
cause it  is  an  intolerahle  presmmption,  that  men, 
in  perverting  the  titles  of  Scripture  to  their  own 
humour,  do  not  hesitate  to  alter  the  meaning  of 
the  Holy  Spirit/' 

The  Bishop's  extract  from  Calvin's  work  De 
Necessitate  Reformandoi  Ecclesice,  will  also  prove, 
when  examined,  quite  as  little  to  his  purpose  as 
any  of  the  preceding.  The  passage,  as  given  by 
him,  is  in  the  following  words:  "If  they  will 
give  us  such  an  hierarchy  in  which  the  bishops 
have  such  a  pre-eminence  as  that  they  do  not  re- 
fuse to  be  subject  to  Christ,  then  I  will  confess 
that  they  are  worthy  of  all  anathemas,  if  any  such, 
shall  be  found  who  will  not  reverence  it,  and 
submit  themselves  to  it  with  the  utmost  obe- 
dience." 

The  passage,  as  really  found  in  Calvin's  work, 
is  as  follows : — After  speaking  of  the  hierarchy 
of  the  Romish  Church;  of  its  claims  of  uninter- 
ruj^tecl  succession  from  the  apostles,  which  he 
turns  into  ridicule;  and  of  the  gross  departure  of 
the  bishops  from  the  spirit  and  rules  of  the  gos- 
pel, he  says:  "If  the  Papists  would  exhibit  to  us 
such  an  hierarchy,  as  that  the  bishops  should  be 
80  distinguished  as  not  to  refuse  to  be  subject  to 
Christ;  to  rely  on  Him  as  their  only  Head;  to 
cherish  fraternal  union  among  themselves;  and 


Calvin's  views  op  prelacy.         133 

to  be  bound  together  by  no  otber  tie  than  his 
truth,  then  I  should  confess  that  there  is 
no  anathema  of  which  tliey  are  not  worthy, 
who  should  not  regard  such  an  hierarchy  with 
reverence  and  obedience.  But  what  likeness  to 
such  an  one  is  borne  by  that  spurious  hierarchy, 
in  which  they  (the  Romanists)  boast?"  He 
then  goes  on  inveighing  against  the  arrogance 
and  tyranny  of  the  Bishop  of  Borne,  by  name, 
and  showing  how  entirely  different  that  system  is 
from  that  to  which  Christ  and  his  apostles  gave 
their  sanction,  and  even  that  which  prevailed  in 
the  time  of  Cyprian. 

It  is  well  known  that  Calvin,  in  all  his  writings 
maintained  that  there  were  hishojys  in  the  primi- 
tive Church  ;  that  every  pastor  of  a  congregation 
was  a  scriptural  bishop )  of  course,  he  might  well 
say,  that  if  there  were  any  who  would  not  obey 
such  bishops  as  were  conformed  to  the  will  of 
Christ,  they  were  worthy  of  all  condemnation. 
Some  have  alleged,  indeed,  that  his  use  of  the 
word  hierarchy,  {hierarchiain)  in  this  passage, 
proves  that  he  could  have  had  reference  to  no 
other  than  a  preJatical  government;  that  the 
term  is  never  applied  to  any  other.  This  is  an 
entire  mistake.  The  word  hierarchy  simply  im- 
plies sacred  or  ecclesiastical  government.  It  may 
be  applied  with  as  much  propriety  to  Preshyteri- 
anism  or  Independency,  as  to  Prelacy.  Calvin 
himself  in  his  Institutes,  Book  iv.,  chapter  5, 
speaks  of  that  hierarchy,  or  spiritual  government, 
which  was  left  in  the  Church  by  the  apostles, 
and  which  he  expressly  declares,  in  the  same 
chapter,  to  be  Presbyterian  in  its  form. 

Further,  we  are  told,  it  seems,  by  Durell,  in 
12* 


134  APPENDIX. 

ia  his  ^'  View  of  the  Foreign  Reformed  Churches," 
that  Calvin,  in  writing  to  an  "old  friend,"  speaks 
of  the  office  of  Bishop  as  of  ''divine  institution 
or  appointment."  It  is  true  that  language  of  this 
kind  is  found  in  that  letter,  but  the  most  cursory 
perusal  of  the  whole  letter,  will  banish  from  any 
candid  mind  the  idea  that  Calvin  is  here  speak- 
ing of  diocesan  or  prelatical  Episcopacy.  Does 
not  every  intelligent  reader  know  that  that  great 
Reformer  believed  and  uniformly  taught  that  the 
office  of  Bishop,  (that  is,  of  the  primitive^  paro- 
chial bishop,)  was  a  divine  institution?  It  is 
evidently  of  this  parochial  EptUcopacy  that  he 
speaks,  when  writing  to  his  "old  friend"  in  the 
language  above  quoted.  The  duties  which  he 
urges  upon  him,  and  the  passages  of  Scripture 
which  he  quotes  to  enforce  his  counsel,  all  show 
that  it  is  that  Episcopacy  alone  which  he  maintains 
to  be  of  divine  appointment.  A  Prelatist  might 
as  well  quote  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Presby- 
terian Form  of  Government,  in  which  it  speaks 
of  Bishops,  as  proof  positive  that  it  maintains  the 
divine  right  of  Prelacy,  as  adduce  the  language 
cited  by  Bishop  Ives,  to  prove  that  Calvin  was  an 
advocate  for  the  divine  institution  of  Prelatical 
Episcopacy. 

Such  is  the  clear,  undubitable  testimony  that 
the  illustrious  Reformer  of  Geneva  was  guiltless 
of  the  charge  which  has  been  brought  against 
him.  It  is  manifest  that,  with  perfect  uniformity 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  public  life,  from 
1535  to  1560,  he  steadfastly  maintained  the  doc- 
trine that  the  apostolic  form  of  Church  govern- 
ment was  Presbyterian  and  not  Prelatical;  that 
even  in  works  which  he  dedicated  to  the  king  of 


Calvin's  views  op  prelacy.         135 

England  and  to  the  Lord  Protector,  the  highest 
nobleman  in  the  realm,  he  still  firmly  contended 
for  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  ministerial  parity. 
The  more  closely  I  examine  his  writings,  the 
more  confirmed  is  my  persuasion,  that  nothing 
which  wears  a  contrary  aspect  can  be  fairly  pro- 
duced from  them. 

II.  The  second  allegation  of  Bishop  Ives,  is, 
that  this  eminent  man  wished  to  introduce  Pre- 
lacy into  the  Church  of  Geneva;  and  that  he  uni- 
ted with  others  in  requesting  the  English  Bishops 
to  impart  it  to  them,. 

If  I  do  not  greatly  mistake,  this  allegation 
also  is  capable  of  being  completely  refuted.  But 
as  I  have  already  trespassed  so  far  on  the  columns 
of  your  paper,  I  shall  postpone  to  another  week 
the  remarks  and  the  testimony  which  I  have  to 
adduce  in  regard  to  that  point.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  am,  sir,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient 
servant,  Samuel  Miller. 

Princeton,  Nbvemier  20, 1841. 


LETTER     II. 

The  second  allegation  of  Bishop  Ives  is,  that 
Calvin  was  desirous  of  introducing  diocesan  Epis- 
copacy into  the  Church  of  Geneva;  and  that  he, 
with  others,  requested  the  bishops  of  England  to 
impart  it  to  them,. 

I  have  expressed  a  strong  confidence  that  this 
statement  is  utterly  unfounded;  and  that  it  ad- 
mits of  satisfactory  refutation.  To  attempt  this 
refutation  I  now  proceed. 

And;  in  proceeding  to  the  execution  of  this 


136  APPENDIX. 

task,  my  first  remark  is,  that,  anterior  to  all 
search  after  testimony,  the  allegation  is,  in  itself j 
utterly  incredible.  The  character  which  the 
friends  of  Prelacy  are  fond  of  imputing  to  John 
Calvin,  is  that  of  an  austere,  fierce,  tyrannical 
man,  fond  of  power,  and  impatient  of  all  opposi- 
tion. His  character,  indeed,  in  this  respect,  has 
been  much  misunderstood,  and  shamefully  mis- 
represented. A  degree  of  magisterial  intolerance 
has  been  ascribed  to  him,  which  he  never  mani- 
fested. Still  it  is  true  that  he  possessed  great 
decision  of  cliai-acter,  and  that  in  following  his 
convictions,  and  labouring  to  attain  his  favourite 
objects,  he  was  hardly  ever  exceeded  by  any  man. 
In  this,  it  is  believed,  all  are  agreed.  Now,  if 
this  man,  who  had  such  controlling  influence  in 
Geneva,  had  been  desirous  of  introducing  Prelacy 
into  his  own  pastoral  charge,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing churches,  who  was  there  to  prevent  it?  Sure- 
ly not  the  civil  government.  The  secular  rulers 
had  been  accustomed  to  Prelacy  all  their  lives, 
and  would,  no  doubt,  have  regarded  it  with  more 
favour  than  any  other  form  of  ecclesiastical  regi- 
men that  could  be  proposed  to  them.  Not  his 
ministerial  colleagues.,  for  though  they  were  by  no 
means  timid  or  pliant  men,  yet  his  influence  over 
them  seems  to  have  been  of  the  highest  kind; 
and  if  Prelacy  had  been  introduced,  who  can 
doubt  that  Calvin  himself  would  have  been  the 
Prelate?  Who  else  would  have  been  thought  of? 
To  him  all  eyes  would  have  been  instantly  di- 
rected. No  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
Luther,  Calvin,  and  several  of  the  leading  Re- 
formers, who  acted  with  them,  can  hesitate  a 
moment  to  believe,  that  a  bishop's  chair  was  with- 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         137 

in  the  reach  of  every  one  of  them,  if  he  had  only 
signified  his  wish  to  the  effect,  or  even  intimated 
his  belief  that  such  an  office  was  warranted  by  the 
word  of  God. 

But  suppose  in  the  face  of  all  this  improbabi- 
lity, that  Calvin  did  wish  to  introduce  Prelacy; 
what  occasion  had  he  to  go  to  England  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  it?  Were  there  not  several 
men  who  had  been  Bishops  under  the  Papacy, 
who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  and 
who  would  have  been  ready  to  lend  their  aid  to- 
ward the  consummation  of  the  desired  object? 
Besides,  our  Episcopal  brethren  tell  us  that  the 
Wald ensues  always  had  bishops,  in  their  sense  of 
that  title,  among  them.  If  so,  where  was  the 
difficulty  of  Calvin  and  his  colleagues  obtaining 
the  Episcojxd  succession,  as  the  modern  phrase  is, 
from  that  body  of  pious  believers?  We  know, 
indeed,  that  this  assertion  concerning  the  Wal- 
denses  is  unfounded.  They  had  no  such  bishops. 
They  themselves,  in  their  correspondence  with 
CEcolampadius,  in  1530,  explicitly  inform  him 
that  they  had  not;  still,  as  an  argumentum  ad 
Jiominem,  the  argument  is  conclusive.  Either 
there  were  no  such  bishops  among  that  pious, 
devoted  people,  as  Prelatists  claim;  or  Calvin, 
who  knew  the  Waldenses  intimately,  and  had 
intercourse  with  them,  acted  a  strange  part  in 
seekino-  an  ecclesiastical  favour  from  the  British 
Church,  which  he  might,  quite  as  conveniently, 
to  say  the  least,  have  obtained  from  churches  in 
his  native  country,  where  many  of  them  were  set- 
tled, as  well  as  in  the  Valleys  of  Piedmont. 

But  there  is  another  fact  bearing  on  the  point, 
no  less  conclusive.     The  allegation  is,  that  Calvin 


138  APPENDIX. 

and  his  friends  begged  for  Episcopal  consecration 
from  Archbishop  Cranmer,  in  the  reign  o? Edicard 
YI.,  when  that  prelate  was  at  the  head  of  the 
ecclesiastical  affairs  of  England.  Now,  in  that 
very  reign,  when  this  wish  and  request  must  have 
been  pending,  as  shown  in  a  former  letter,  we 
find  Calvin  repeatedly  publishing  to  the  world  his 
opposition  to  Prelacy,  and  his  solemn  conviction 
that  the  Scriptures  laid  down  a  different  form  of 
church  order;  and  one  of  these  publications,  con- 
taining one  of  his  strongest  assertions  in  favour 
of  Presbyterianism,  he  dedicated  to  the  king  of 
England,  and  sent  to  him  by  the  hand  of  a  special 
messenger;  on  the  return  of  which  messenger, 
Cranmer  wrote  to  Calvin  an  affectionate  letter, 
thanking  him  for  his  present,  and  expressing  an 
opinion  that  he  could  not  do  better  than  often  to 
write  to  the  king.  (^See  Strypes  Memorials  of 
Cranmer,  p.  4:1S.)  How  is  it  possible  for  these 
things  to  hang  together?  If  Calvin  was  capable 
of  writing  and  printing  these  things,  and  sending 
them  by  special  messengers  to  the  king,  and  to 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  at  the  very  time  when  he 
was  negotiating  with  Cranmer,  to  obtain  from  him 
an  investiture  of  a  different  and  opposite  kind; — if 
he  was  capable  of  acting  thus,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
say,  whether  he  was  more  of  a  knave  or  a  fool. 
But  I  know  not  that  any  one,  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  history  or  the  writings  of  that  eminent 
man,  ever  charged  him  with  being  either. 

The  first  evidence  that  Bishop  Ives  adduces  to 
support  his  allegation,  that  Calvin  desired  to  ob- 
tain Prelatical  Episcopacy  for  his  own  Church  in 
Geneva,  is  drawn  from  his  language  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  which  he  composed  in  the  name 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         139 

of  the  French  Churches.  The  friends  of  Prelacy 
are  heartily  welcome  to  all  the  testiioony  which 
can  be  drawn  from  that  Confession.  Everything 
in  it  which  bears  upon  this  point  is  in  the  follow- 
ing words:  "As  to  the  true  Church,  we  believe 
it  ought  to  be  governed  according  to  the  policy 
which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  established; 
that  is,  that  there  be  Pastors,  Elders  and  Deacons; 
that  the  pure  doctrine  may  have  its  course;  that 
vices  may  be  corrected  and  repressed;  that  the 
poor  and  all  other  afflicted  persons  be  succoured 
in  their  necessities ;  and  that  all  the  assemblies  be 
made  in  the  name  of  God,  in  which  both  great 
and  small  may  be  edified.  We  believe  that  all 
true  pastors,  in  whatsoever  place  they  be,  have  the 
same  autlwriti/  and  an  equal  poicer^  under  one 
only  Chief,  only  Sovereign,  and  universal  Bishop, 
Jesus  Christ;  and  for  that  reason  that  no  church 
ought  to  pretend  to  Sovereignty  or  Lordship  over 
another."  If  this  be  evidence  that  Calvin  wished 
to  introduce  Prelacy  into  those  churches  on  the 
Continent,  over  which  he  had  influence,  then  I 
know  not  what  testimony  means.  The  Confession 
is  decisively  anti-prelatical  in  its  character 
throughout,  and  the  churches  which  were  organ- 
ized on  its  basis,  were  as  thoroughly  Presbyterian 
as  the  Church  of  Scotland  ever  was.  Li  the  "iVrti- 
cles  of  Ecclesiastical  Discipline,"  drawn  up  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  declared  that  "a  President  in 
each  Colloquy  (or  classis)  or  Synod  shall  be  chosen 
with  a  common  consent  to  preside  in  the  Colloquy 
or  Synod,  and  to  do  everything  that  belongs  to  it; 
and  the  said  oflace  shall  end  with  each  Colloquy 
or  Synod  and  Council."  {See  LavaVs  History  of 
the  Reformation  in  France^  Vol.  I.  jp.  118.) 


140  APPENDIX. 

Anotlier  source  of  proof  on  whicli  Bishop  Ives 
relies  to  show  that  Ccalvin  wished  for  and  endea- 
voured to  obtain  Prelacy  from  the  English  Church, 
is  found  in  the  language  which  he  addressed  to 
the  clergy  of  Cologne,  blaming  them  for  attempt- 
ing to  depose  their  Archbishop,  because  he  was 
friendly  to  the  Reformation.  But  could  not  Cal- 
vin reprobate  this  conduct  without  believing  in  the 
divine  institution  of  the  office  which  the  Arch- 
bishop held?  Suppose  Bishop  Ives  should  be- 
come a  Calvinist,  as  to  his  theological  creed,  and 
suppose  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  North  Carolina 
should  conspire  on  that  account  alone,  to  expel 
him  from  his  diocese,  might  not  the  firmest  Pres- 
byterian in  the  State  remonstrate  against  their 
conspiracy  without  being  an  advocate  for  the 
divine  right  of  prelacy?  Might  he  not  consider 
it  much  better  to  retain,  in  an  influential  station, 
one  who  was  an  advocate  for  evangelical  truth, 
rather  than  thrust  him  out  to  make  way  for  an  err- 
orist  in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  church  order? 

A  further  testimony  to  which  he  appeals  is, 
that  Calvin  in  writing  to  Itliavius,  a  Polish  Bishop, 
styles  him  ''illustrious  and  Reverend  Lord  Bish- 
op/' He  addresses  him,  ''  iUustris  et  reverende 
JDomine.^'  The  last  word,  which  is  equivalent  to 
sir,  Calvin  addresses  to  the  humblest  curate  to 
whom  he  writes.  Of  course  no  stress  can  be  laid 
on  that  title.  But  what  does  the  venerable  Re- 
former say  to  this  Polish  dignitary?  Urging  him 
to  give  his  influence  decisively  in  favour  of  the  Re- 
formation, he  writes  to  him  in  the  following  faith- 
ful language — a  part  of  which  only  Bishop  Ives 
quotes — ''It  is  base  and  wicked  for  you  to  remain 
neutral,   when   God,   as  with  outstretched    hand, 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         141 

calls  yon  to  defend  Ins  cause.  Consider  wbat 
place  you  occupy,  and  what  burden  has  been  laid 
upon  you."  This  is  proof  enough  that  Calvin 
thought  that  Ithavms  had  been  placed  in  his  sta- 
tion by  the  providence  of  God,  and  that  he  was 
bound  to  employ  all  the  influence  and  authority 
connected  with  that  station  for  promoting  the 
cause  of  truth;  and  certainly  nothing  more.  I 
take  for  granted  that  Bishop  Ives  believes  that  the 
tyrant  Nero  was  raised  to  the  imperial  throne  by 
the  providence  of  God;  that,  in  that  station,  he 
had  a  great  opportunity  for  doing  good,  if  he  had 
been  inclined  to  improve  it;  and  that  any  benevo- 
lent inhabitant  of  his  dominions  might  have  ad- 
dressed his  emperor  in  the  very  language  ad- 
dressed to  Ithavius,  without  believing  in  the  di- 
vine right  of  monarchy. 

An  extract  of  a  letter  from  Calvin  to  the  King 
of  Poland,  is  also  brought  forward  to  show  that 
he  was  an  advocate  for  Prelacy.  Let  the  passage 
which  Bishop  Ives  refers  to,  be  seen  in  its  connec- 
tion, and  its  worthlessuess  for  his  purpose,  will 
be  manifest  to  the  most  cursory  reader.  It  is  as 
follows: — " Finally,  it  is  ambition  and  arrogance 
alone  that  have  invented  this  Primacy  which  the 
Eomanists  hold  up  to  us.  The  ancient  Church 
did  indeed  institute  Patriarchates,  and  also  ap- 
pointed certain  primacies  to  each  province,  in 
order  that,  by  this  bond  of  concord,  the  Bishops 
might  continue  more  united  among  themselves; 
just  as  if  at  the  present  day,  one  Archbishop  were 
set  over  the  kingdom  of  Poland;  not  to  bear  rule 
over  the  others,  or  to  arrogate  to  himself  autho- 
rity of  which  the  others  are  robbed;  but  for  the 
sake  of  order,  to  hold  the  first  place  in  Svnods, 
13 


142  APPENDIX. 

and  to  cherish  a  holy  union  among;  his  colleagues 
and  brethren.  Then  there  might  be  either  pro- 
vincial or  city  Bishops,  to  attend  particularl}'  to 
the  preservation  of  order:  inasmuch  as  nature  dic- 
tates that,  out  of  each  college  one  should  be 
chosen  on  whom  the  chief  care  should  devolve. 
But  possessing  an  office  of  moderate  dignity,  that 
is  to  the  extent  of  a  man's  ability,  is  a  different 
thing  from  embracing  the  whole  world  in  unlim- 
ited jurisdiction/' 

Here  it  is  evident  that,  by  the  "Ancient 
Church/'  Calvin  meant,  not  the  apostolic  church  j 
for  then  there  were  no  patriarchates,  as  all  agree  j 
but  the  church  as  it  stood  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries.  He  thus  fully  explains  this  phrase  in 
his  letter  to  Sadolet,  as  well  as  in  his  Institute.-i. 
And  it  is  no  less  evident  that  by  the  man  in  each 
college  of  ecclesiastics  on  whom  the  "chief  care 
was  to  be  devolved,"  he  meant  only  a  standing 
moderator,  such  as  he  describes  in  those  extracts 
from  his  Commentary,  which  I  detailed  in  my 
last  letter.  And  besides,  as  Calvin  knew  that 
prelacy  was  universally  and  firmly  established  in 
Poland,  he  was  much  more  anxious  to  plead  for 
the  promotion  of  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  true 
true  religion  in  that  country,  than  for  pulling 
down  its  hierarchy.  Hence  he  was  disposed  to 
treat  the  latter  with  indulgence,  if  the  former 
might  have  free  course. 

But  Bishop  Ives  seems  to  lay  the  greatest 
stress  for  proof  of  his  assertion,  on  a  statement 
found  in  Stripe's  "Memorials  of  Cranmer," 
p.  207;  and  in  his  "Life  of  Bishop  Parker,^' 
pp.  69,  70.  The  story,  as  related  by  Strype,  is, 
that  Bulllnger  and   Calvin,  and  others,  wrote  a 


Calvin's  views  of  prelacy.         143 

joint  letter  to  king  Edward,  offering  to  make  him 
their  defender,  and  to  have  such  bishops  in  their 
churches  as  there  were  in  England.  The  story 
is  a  blind  and  incredible  one.  Let  us  see  the 
letter,  and  we  will  then  believe  that  such  a  com- 
munication was  sent,  and  not  till  then.  The 
truth  is,  Bonner  and  Gardiner  were  popish  bish- 
ops, entirely  out  of  favour  during  the  reign  of 
king  Edward,  and  a  letter  directed  to  the  king 
would  be  by  no  means  likely  to  fall  into  their 
'  hands.  Calvin  is  known  to  have  kept  up  a  con- 
stant correspondence  with  Archbishop  Cranmer, 
as  long  as  the  latter  lived.  Cranmer  consulted 
him  frequently,  sought  his  counsel  on  a  variety 
of  occasions,  and  requested  his  aid  in  conducting 
the  affairs  of  the  English  Reformation.  The 
archbishop  sent  to  Calvin  the  first  draught  of  the 
English  Liturgy,  early  in  the  reign  of  Edward, 
requesting  his  advice  and  criticism  respecting 
it.  Calvin  returned  it,  saying  that  he  found  in 
it  some  tolerahiles  ineptias  (tolerable  fooleries) 
which  he  could  wish  might  be  corrected.  This 
criticism  was  well  received,  and  the  Liturgy  was 
corrected  agreeably  to  his  wishes.  This  fact  is 
attested  by  Dr.  HeijUn,  one  of  the  bitterest  oppo- 
nents of  Calvin,  and  of  Presbyterianism,  that  ever 
lived.  "The  first  Liturgy,"  says  he,  "was  dis- 
continued, and  the  second  superinduced  upon  it, 
to  give  satisfaction  unto  Calvin's  cavils,  the  curi- 
osities of  some,  and  the  mistakes  of  others,  his 
friends  and  followers.''  Histori/  of  the  Preshyte- 
rians,  p.  12.  207.  Dr.  JVichols,  also,  the  author 
of  a  Commentary  on  the  Common  Prayer,  bears 
testimonv  to  the  same  fact,  in  the  following 
Statement.     "  Four  years  afterwards  the  Book  of 


144  APPENDIX. 

Common  Prayer  uuderwent  another  review, 
wherein  some  ceremonies  and  usages  were  laid 
aside,  and  some  new  prayers  added,  at  the  in- 
stance of  Mr.  Calvin  of  Geneva,  and  Bucer,  a 
foreign  divine,  who  was  invited  to  be  a  Profes- 
sor  at    Cambridge."      Preface  to   his   Comment^ 

The  fact  is,  Cranmer  and  his  coadjutors  in  the 
Eno;lish  Reformation,  had  to  stru2;2;le  with  sreat 
difficulties.  The  Papists,  on  the  one  hand,  as- 
sailed and  reproached  them  for  carrying  the  Re- 
formation too  far;  while  some  of  the  most  pious 
dignitaries,  and  others  in  the  Church,  thought  it 
was  not  carried  far  enough.  In  these  circum- 
stances, Cranmer  wrote  often  to  the  Reformers 
on  the  Continent,  and  sought  advice  and  coun- 
tenance from  them,  and  to  none  more  frequently 
than  to  Calvin,  who  wrote,  we  are  told,  in  return, 
much  to  encourage  and  animate  Cranmer.  Among 
other  expressions  of  opinion,  we  are  informed 
that  Calvin  blamed  Bishops  Hooper  and  Latimer^ 
those  decided  friends  of  evangelical  truth,  for 
their  persevering  scruples  respecting  the  Jiahiis 
or  ecclesiastical  vestments,  which  were  then  the 
subject  of  so  much  controversy.  He  gave  it  as 
his  opinion,  that  where  the  great  and  vital  princi- 
ples of  the  gospel  were  at  stake,  it  was  bad  policy 
for  the  friends  of  true  religion  to  allow  them- 
selves to  be  alienated  and  divided  by  questions 
concerning  clerical  dress,  or  even  the  external 
order  of  the  Church.  The  kind  and  friendly 
things  of  this  nature  which  he  so  frequently  ut- 
tered, were,  no  doubt,  misinterpreted,  as  indicat- 
ing a    more  favourable   opinion  of  the   Prelacy 


Calvin's  views  op  prelacy.         145 

of  England,  than  lie  really  entertained,  or  ever 
meant  to  express. 

I  shall  trespass  on  your  patience,  Mr.  Editor, 
only  by  making  one  statement  more.  Calvin  was 
so  far  from  ever  alleging  that  the  Genevan  form 
of  church  government  was  adopted  by  him  from 
necessiti/  and  not  from  clioice,  that  he,  on  the  con- 
trary, steadfastly  maintained  that  it  was  strictly 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  and  that  which  he 
felt  him#lf  bound,  by  obedience  to  Christ,  to  es- 
tablish and  defend.  '^ Besides,'^  says  he,  "that 
our  conscience  acquits  us  in  the  sight  of  God, 
the  thing  itself  will  answer  for  us  in  the  sight  of 
men.  Nobody  has  yet  appeared  that  could  prove 
that  we  have  altered  any  one  thing  which  God  has 
commanded,  or  that  we  have  appointed  any  new 
thing,  contrary  to  his  word,  or  that  we  have 
turned  aside  from  the  truth  to  follow  any  evil 
opinion.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  manifest  that  we 
have  reformed  our  Church  MERELY  BY  God's 
WORD,  which  is  the  only  rule  by  which  it  is  to  be 
ordered  and  lawfully  defended.  It  is,  indeed,  an 
unpleasant  work  to  alter  what  has  been  formerly  in 
use,  were  it.  not  that  the  order  which  God  has  once 
fixed  must  be  esteemed  by  us  as  sacred  and  invio- 
lable ;  insomuch,  that  if  it  has,  for  a  time,  been 
laid  aside,  it  must  of  necessity,  (and  whatever  the 
consequences  should  prove,)  be  restored  again. 
No  antiquity,  no  prescription  of  custom,  may  be 
allowed  to  be  an  obstacle  in  this  case,  that  the 
government  of  the  church  which  God  has  aj)point- 
er7,  should  not  be  perpetual,  since  the  Lord  him- 
self has  once  fixed  it."  Epis.  ad  quendam  Cura- 
tum — In  Calvin.  Epist.  p.  386. 

Such  are  the  testimonies  which  satisfy  me  that 
13* 


146  APPENDIX. 

Calvin  was  a  sincere  and  uniform  advocate  of 
Presbyterian  church,  government,  and  that  if  he 
ever  wished  to  introduce  Prelaay  into  his  church 
at  Geneva,  we  must  despair  of  establishing  any 
fact  by  historical  records.  That  Bishop  Ives  was 
a  real  believer  in  the  truth  of  all  that  he  asserted, 
I  never  entertained  the  least  doubt.  But  I  have 
as  little  doubt,  that  it  is  totally  destitute  of  any 
solid  foundation.  Either  Calvin  had  no  such  de- 
sire as  the  bishop  ascribes  to  him,  or  h#was  one 
of  the  most  weak  and  inconsistent  men  that  ever 
breathed.      That  nobody  ever  thought  him. 

I  am,  Mr.  Editor,  yours  respectfully, 

Samuel  Miller. 

PaiscETON,  Decemher  6,  ISil. 


APPENDIX    lY. 


TESTIMONIALS  TO  CALVIN. 

The  estimation  iu  which  the  character  and  learn- 
ing of  Calvin  have  been  held,  may  be  seen  from 
the  following  testimonies. 

"He  lived  fifty-four  years,  ten  months,  and 
seventeen  days;  half  of  which  time  he  passed  in 
the  sacred  ministry.  His  stature  was  of  a  middle 
size,  his  complexion  dark  and  pallid,  his  eyes 
brilliant,  even  till  death,  expressing  the  acuteness 
of  his  understanding.  He  lived  nearly  without 
sleep.  His  power  of  memory  was  almost  incredi- 
ble; and  his  judgment  so  sound,  that  his  decisions 
often  seemed  almost  oracular.  In  his  words  he 
was  sparing;  and  he  despised  an  artificial  elo- 
quence: yet  was  he  an  accomplished  writer:  and, 
by  the  accuracy  of  his  mind,  and  his  practice  of 
dictating  to  an  amanuensis,  he  attained  to  speak 
little  difi"erently  from  what  he  would  have  written. 
The  consistency  and  uniformity  of  his  doctrine,  from 
first  to  last,  are  scarcely  to  be  paralleled.  Nature 
had  formed  him  grave;  yet,  in  the  intercourse  of 
social  life  no  one  showed  7nore  suavity.  He  ex- 
ercised great  forbearance  towards  all  such  infirm- 
ities in  others  as  are  consistent  with  integrity — 
not  overawing  his  weaker  brethren;  but  towards 
flattery,  and  every  species  of  insincerity,  especially 

(147) 


148  APPENDIX. 

where  religion  was  concerned,  he  was  severe  and 
indignant.  He  was  naturally  irritable;  and  this 
fault  was  increased  by  the  excessive  laboriousness 
of  his  life  :  yet  the  Spirit  of  God  had  taught  him 
to  govern  both  his  temper  and  his  tongue. — That 
so  many  and  so  great  virtues,  both  in  public  and  in 
private  life,  should  have  called  forth  against  him 
many  enemies,  no  one  will  wonder,  who  duly  con- 
siders what  has  ever  befallen  eminent  men,  both 
in  sacred  and  profane  history.  Those  enemies 
brand  him  as  a  heretic:  but  Christ  suffered  under 
the  same  reproach.  He  was  edc'pelled^  say  they, 
from  Geneva.  True,  he  was,  but  he  was  solicited 
to  return.  He  is  charged  with  ambition,  yea, 
with  aspiring  at  a  new  popedom.  An  extraordinary 
charge  to  be  brought  against  a  man  who  chose 
his  kind  of  life,  and  in  this  state,  in  this  church, 
which  I  might  truly  call  the  very  seat  of  poverty. 
They  say  again  that  he  coveted  wealth.  Yet  all 
his  worldly  goods,  including  his  library,  which 
brought  a  high  price,  scarcely  amounted  to  three 
hundred  crowns.  Well  might  he  say  in  his  pre- 
face to  the  book  of  Psalms,  'That  I  am  not  a 
lover  of  money,  if  I  fail  of  persuading  men  while 
I  live,  my  death  will  demonstrate.'  How  small 
his  stipend  was,  the  senate  knows:  yet  they  can 
bear  witness  that,  so  far  from  being  dissatisfied 
with  it,  he  pertinaciously  refused  an  increase 
when  it  was  offered  him.  He  delighted,  forsooth, 
in  luxury  and  indulgence !  Let  his  labours  an- 
swer the  charge.  What  accusations  will  not  some 
men  bring  against  him  ?  But  no  refutation  of 
them  is  wanting  to  those  persons  who  knew  him 
while  he  lived )  and  they  will  want  none,  among 
posterity,  with  men  of  judgment,  who  shall  collect 


TESTIMONIALS   TO   CALVIN.  149 

his  character  from  his  writings.  Haying  given 
with  good  faith  the  history  of  his  life  and  of  his 
death,  after  sixteen  years'  observation  of  him,  I 
feel  myself  warranted  to  declare,  that  in  him  was 
proposed  to  all  men  an  illustrious  example  of  the 
life  and  death  of  a  Christian;  so  that  it  will  be 
found  as  difficult  to  emulate,  as  it  is  easy  to  cal- 
umniate him." — Beza. 

''It  is  impossible  to  refuse  him  the  praise  of 
vast  knowledge,   exquisite  judgment,   a  penetra 
tion  which  is  uncommon,  a  prodigious  memory 
and  admirable  temperance   and  sobriety.  .   .  . 
Affairs  public  and  private,  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
occupied  him  in  succession,  and  often  all  together 
Consulted  from   all  quarters  both  at  home  and 
abroad;  carrying  on  a  correspondence  with  all  the 
churches  and  all  the  learned  men  of  Europe,  with 
the  princes  and  other  persons  of  high  distinction, 
who  had  embraced  the  reformed  religion  ]  it  seems 
almost  inconceivable  how  one  man  could  be  capa- 
ble  of  so   many  things,  and  how  he  should  not 
sink   under   the   weight   of  the   business  which 
pressed    upon   him.     The    enemy   of  all    pomp; 
modest  in  his  whole  deportment;  perfectly  disin 
terested   and  generous,  and  even  entertaining  a 
contempt  for  riches;  he  made  himself  not  less  re- 
spected for  the  qualities  of  his  heart,  than  admired 
for  the  powers  of  his  understanding.     When  the 
council  wished  to  make  him  a  present  of  five  and 
twenty  crowns,  on   occasion   of  his  continued  ill- 
ness, he  refused  to  accept  it;   because,   he  said, 
since  he  then  rendered  no  service  to  the  Church, 
so  far  from  meriting  any  extraordinary  recompense, 
he  felt  scruples  about  receiving  his  ordinary  sti- 


150  APPENDIX. 

pend:  and  a  few  days  before  his  death  he  abso- 
lutely refused  a  part  of  his  appointments  which 
had  become  due.  ....  He  always  presided  in  the 
company  of  pastors.  Without  envy  they  saw 
him,  by  reason  of  his  rare  merit,  which  raised 
him  far  above    all  his  colleagues,  occupy  the  first 

place When  his  frequent  illnesses  prevented 

his  being  regularly  present  among  them,  they  had 
requested  Beza  to  supply  his  place.  A  few  days 
after  Calvin's  death,  Beza  declined  this  service, 
and  at  the  same  time  recommended  to  them  not 
in  future  to  entrust  an  office  of  such  importance 
permanently  to  any  individual — safely  as  it  might 
have  been  committed  to  Calvin,  and  due  as  it 
justly  was  to  his  services —  .  .  .  but  rather  to 
choose  a  fresh  moderator  every  year,  who  should 
simply  be  considered  as  primus  inter  pares — pre- 
siding among  his  equals.  This  proposition  was 
unanimously  approved,  and  Beza  himself,  notwith- 
standing the  pleas  on  which  he  would  have 
been  excused,  was  immediately  chosen  the  first 
moderator,  as  possessing  all  the  requisite  qualifi- 
cations :  and  the  choice  was  sanctioned  by  the 
council." — Spoil's  History  of  Geneva. 

''This  (his  superiority  to  the  love  of  money)  is 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  victories  virtue  and 
magnanimity  can  obtain  over  nature,  even  in 
those  who  are  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Calvin 
has  left  behind  him  many  who  imitated  him  iu 
his  active  life,  his  zeal  and  affection  for  the  cause; 
they  employ  their  voices,  their  pens,  their  steps 
and  solicitations,  for  the  advancement  of  the  king- 
dom of  Grod,  but  then  they  take  care  not  to  forget 
themselves,  and  are,  generally  speaking,  a  demon- 


TESTIMONIALS    TO    CALVIN.  151 

stration  that  the   Church  is  a  bountiful  mother, 

and   that    nothing  is   lost  in   her  service 

Such  a  will  as  this  of  Calvin,  and  such  a  disinter- 
estedness, is  a  thing  so  very  extraordinary,  as 
might  make  even  those  who  cast  their  eyes  on 
the  philosophers  of  Greece  say  of  him,  '  I  have 
not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.'  When 
Calvin  was  taking  his  leave  of  those  of  Strasburg, 
in  order  to  return  to  Geneva,  they  offered  to  con- 
tinue his  freedom,  and  the  revenue  of  a  prebend 
they  had  assigned  him;   he  accepted  the  first,  but 

rejected  the  latter He  carried  one  of  his 

brothers  with  him  to  Geneva,  without  ever  think- 
ing of  advancing  him  to  any  honours,  as  others 

would  have  done  with  his  great  credit Even 

his  enemies  say  he  had  him  taught  the  trade  of 
a  bookbinder,  which  he  exercised  all  his  life." — 
Bayle. 

^^We  should  be  injurious  unto  virtue  itself,  If 
we  did  derogate  from  them  whom  their  industry 
hath  made  great.  Two  things  of  principal  mo- 
ment there  are,  which  have  deservedly  procured 
him  honour  throughout  the  world:  the  one  his 
exceeding  pains  in  composing  the  Institutions  of 
Christian  Religion,  the  other  his  no  less  industri- 
ous travails  for  exposition  of  Holy  Scripture,  ac- 
cording unto  the  same  Institutions.  In  which 
two  things  whosoever  they  were  that  after  him 
bestowed  their  labour,  he  gained  the  advantasre  of 
prejudice  against  them  if  they  gainsaid,  and  of 
glory  above  them  if  they  consented. '^ — Hooker. 

^' After  the  Holy  Scriptures,  I  exhort  the  stu- 
dents to  read  the  Commentaries  of  Calvin.  .  .  . 


152  APPENDIX. 

for  I  tell  tlieiD  tliat  he  is  incomparable  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  Scripture  3  and  that  his  Commenta- 
ries ought  to  be  held  in  greater  estimation  than 
all  that  is  delivered  to  us  in  the  writings  of  the 
ancient  Christian  Fathers:  so  that,  in  a  certain 
eminent  spirit  of  prophecy,  I  give  the  pre-em- 
inence to  him  beyond  most  others,  indeed  beyond 
them  all.  I  add,  that,  with  regard  to  what  belongs 
to  common  places,  his  Institutes  must  be  read 
after  the  Catechism,  as  a  more  ample  interpreta- 
tion. But  to  all  this  I  subjoin  the  remark,  that 
they  must  be  perused  with  cautious  choice,  like 
all  other  human  compositions." — A?'minins. 


APPENDIX    V. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CALUMNY  THAT  CALVIN  WISHED 
TO  ABROGATE  THE  LORD'S  DAY. 

The  authority  of  Calvin,  too,  has  sometimes 
been  adduced  in  support  of  loose  views  respect- 
ino;  the  oblio'ation  of  the  fourth  commandment. 
It  is  an  old  and  foolish  calumny.  We  take  the 
following  extract  from  Beza,  not  only  to  meet  this 
allegation,  for  Beza,  as  the  personal  friend  of  Cal- 
vin, must  have  known  his  sentiments  perfectly,  but 
to  counteract  any  impressions  which  may  be  circu- 
lated to  the  disparagement  of  the  faithfulness  and 
purity  of  the  Church  of  Greneva,  in  the  days  of 
Calvin. 

*'The  year  1550  was  remarkable  for  its  tranquil- 
lity with  respect  to  the  Church.  The  Consistory 
resolved  that  the  ministers  should  not  confine  their 
instructions  to  public  preaching — which  was  ne- 
glected by  some,  and  heard  with  very  little  advan- 
tage by  others — but  at  stated  seasons  should  visit 
every  family  from  house  to  house,  attended  by  an 
elder  and  a  decurion  of  each  ward,  to  explain  the 
Christian  doctrines  to  the  common  people,  and 
require  from  every  one  a  brief  account  of  their 
faith.  These  private  visits  were  of  great  use  to 
the  Church,  and  it  is  scarcely  credible  how  much 
fruit  was  produced  by  this  plan  of  instruction. 
The  Consistory  gave  directions  that  the  celebra- 
14  (153) 


154  APPENDIX. 

tion  of  the  birth  of  Christ  should  be  deferred  to 
the  following  day,  and  that  no  festival  should  be 
observed  as  holy  excepting  the  seventh,  which  is 
called  the  Lord's  Day.  This  proceeding  gave 
offence  to  many,  and /or  the  puiyose  of  reproach- 
ing Calvin,  there  were  some  who  circulated  an 
unfounded  report  of  his  abrogating  the  Sabbath 
Itself 


MELANCTHON'S  APPROBATION  OF  THE  COURSE  OF 
CALVIN  TOWARDS  SERVETUS. 

M.  D'Aubigne  was  strictly  correct  in  his  histo- 
rical allusions  to  this  celebrated  German  reformer. 
In  a  letter  from  Melancthon  to  Calvin,  bearing 
the  date  of  October  14th,  1554,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowino;  sentiments : — 

''Reverend  and  dear  brother — I  have  read 
your  book,  in  which  you  have  clearly  refuted  the 
horrid  blasphemies  of  Servetus  ;  and  I  give  thanks 
to  the  Son  of  God,  who  was  the  awarder  of  your 
crown  of  victory  in  your  combat."  "  To  you,  also, 
the  Church  owes  gratitude  at  the  present  moment, 
and  will  owe  it  to  the  latest  posterity."  "  I  per- 
fectly assent  to  your  opinion." 

''I  affirm  also,"  says  he,  in  another  letter,  dated 
August  20th,  "■  that  the  Genevese  senate  did  per- 
fectly right  in  putting  an  end  to  this  obstinate 
man,  who  could  never  cease  blaspheming,  and  I 
wonder  at  those  who  disapprove  of  this  severity." 

This  opinion  of  Melancthon  was  sustained  by 
Bullinger,  Peter  Martyr,  Zanchius,  Farel,  Theo- 
dore Beza,  Bishop  Hall,  and  others.  Your  cor- 
respondent must,  therefore,  admit  that  Melanc- 


THE   TESTIMONY   OF   A   UNITARIAN.       155 

thon's  name  is  properly  coupled  with  that  of  John 
Calvin,  in  the  affair  of  Servetus,  approve,  or  disap- 
prove of  the  sentence  as  we  may. 

H.  B. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  A  UNITARIAN. 

The  followinp:  is  from  the  pen  of  George  Ban- 
croft, author  of  the  History  of  the  United  States, 
formerly  minister  plenipotentiary  to  England,  a 
Unitarian  in  his  religious  opinions. 

''  It  is  in  season  to  rebuke  the  intolerance  which 
would  limit  the  praise  of  Calvin  to  a  single  sect. 
They  who  have  no  admiration  but  for  wealth  and 
rank,  can  never  admire  the  Grenevan  reformer;  for 
though  he  possessed  the  richest  mind  of  his  age, 
he  never  emerged  from  the  limits  of  frugal  poverty. 
The  rest  of  us  may  be  allowed  to  reverence  his 
virtues  and  regret  his  errors.  He  lived  in  a  day 
when  nations  were  shaken  to  their  centre  by  the 
excitement  of  the  Reformation,  when  the  fields  of 
Holland  and  France  were  wet  with  the  carnage  of 
persecution;  when  vindictive  monarchs,  on  the  one 
side,  threatened  all  Protestants  with  outlawry  and 
death;  and  the  Vatican  on  the  other,  sent  forth 
its  anathemas  and  its  cry  for  blood.  In  that  day, 
it  is  too  true,  the  influence  of  an  ancient,  long- 
established,  hardly  disputed  error;  the  constant 
danger  of  his  position;  the  intensest  desire  to 
secure  union  among  the  antagonists  of  Popery  j 
the  engrossing  consciousness  that  his  struggle  was 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  Christian  world, 
induced  the  great  Reformer  to  defend  the  use  of 
the  sword  for  the  extirpation  of  error.     Reprobat- 


156  APPENDIX. 

ing  and  lamenting  his  adhesion  to  the  cruel  doc- 
trine which  all  Christendom  had  for  centuries  im- 
plicitly received,  we  may,  as  republicans,  remem- 
ber, that  Calvin  was  not  only  the  founder  of  a 
sect,  but  foremost  among  the  most  efficient  of 
modern  republican  legislators.  More  truly  bene- 
volent to  the  human  race  than  Solon,  more  self- 
denying  than  Lycurgus,  the  genius  of  Calvin 
infused  enduring  elements  into  the  institutions  of 
Geneva,  and  made  it  for  the  modern  world  the 
impregnable  fortress  of  popular  liberty,  the  fertile 
seed-plot  of  democracy. 

Again,  we  boast  of  our  common  schools  j  Calvin 
was  the  father  of  popular  education,  the  inventor 
of  the  system  of  free  schools. 

Again,  we  are  proud  of  the  free  States  that 
fringe  the  Atlantic.  The  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth 
were  Calvinists;  the  best  influence  in  South  Caro- 
lina came  from  the  Calvinists  in  France.  William 
Penn  was  the  disciple  of  Huguenots;  the  ships 
from  Holland,  that  first  brought  colonists  to  Man- 
hattan, were  filled  with  Calvinists.  He  that  will 
not  honour  the  memory^  and  respect  the  ivjinence 
of  Calvin,  knows  hut  little  of  the  origin  of  Ameri- 
can liberty. 

Or  do  personal  considerations  chiefly  win  ap- 
plause? Then  no  one  merits  our  sympathy  and 
our  admiration  more  than  Calvin.  The  young 
exile  from  France,  who  achieved  an  immortality 
of  fame  before  he  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age, 
now  boldly  reasoning  with  the  king  of  France  for 
religious  liberty;  now  venturing  as  the  apostle  of 
truth  to  carry  the  new  doctrines  into  the  heart  of 
Italy;  and  now  hardly  escaping  from  the  fury  of 
papal  persecution;  the  purest  writer,  the  keenest 


TEMPTATION   OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  157 

dialectician  of  his  age;  pushing  free  inquiry  to  its 
utmost  verge,  and  yet  vahiing  inquiry  only  as  the 
means  of  arriving  at  fixed  principles.  The  light 
of  bis  genius  scattered  the  mask  of  darkness, 
which  superstition  had  held  for  centuries  before 
the  brow  of  religion.  His  probity  was  unques- 
tioned, his  morals  spotless.  His  only  happiness  con- 
sisted in  'the  task  of  glory,  and  of  good;'  for 
sorrow  found  its  way  into  all  its  private  relations. 
He  was  an  exile  from  his  place  of  exile.  As  a  hus- 
band, he  was  doomed  to  mourn  the  premature  loss 
of  his  wife;  as  a  father,  he  felt  the  bitter  pangs 
of  burying  his  only  child.  x\lone  in  the  world, 
alone  in  a  strange  land,  he  went  forward  in  his 
career  with  serene  resignation  and  inflexible  firm- 
ness :  no  love  of  ease  turned  him  aside  from  his 
vigils;  no  fear  of  danger  relaxed  the  nerve  of  his 
eloquence ;  no  bodily  infirmities  checked  the 
incredible  activity  of  his  mind;  and  so  he  contin- 
ued, year  after  year,  solitary  and  feeble,  yet  toil- 
ing for  humanity ;  till  after  a  life  of  glory,  he  be- 
queathed to  his  personal  heirs  a  fortune,  in  books 
and  furniture,  stocks  and  money,  not  exceeding 
two  hundred  dollars,  and  to  tlie  icorld  a  pure  Re- 
formation, a  rejmhlican  spirit  in  religion,  with  the 
kindred  principjles  of  republican  liberty  J" 


TEMPTATION  OF  JOHN  CALVIN. 

The  following  anecdote  of  Calvin,  while  it  does 
much  honour  to  his  moral  and  religious  character, 
is  a  curious  historical  fact,  which  deserves  to  be 
generally  known.     It  was  related  at  Greneva,  by 


158  APPENDIX. 

Diodati,  one  of  Calvin's  successors,  to  the  first 
Lord  Orrery,  who  flourished  under  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.  The  extract  is  taken  from  ''The  State 
Letters  and  Memoirs  of  the  Eight  Honourable 
Koger  Bojle/^ 

"Eckius  being  sent  by  the  Pope,  legate  into 
France,  upon  his  return  resolved  to  take  Geneva 
in  his  way,  on  purpose  to  see  Calvin  -,  and  if  occa- 
sion were,  to  attempt  reducing  him  to  the  Eoman 
Church.  Therefore,  when  Eckius  was  come  with- 
in a  league  of  Geneva,  he  left  his  retinue  there, 
and  went,  accompanied  with  one  man,  to  the  city 
in  the  forenoon.  Setting  up  his  horses  at  an  inn, 
he  inquired  where  Calvin  lived,  whose  house  be- 
ing showed  him,  he  knocked  at  the  door,  and  Cal- 
vin himself  came  to  open  to  him.  Eckius  inquir- 
ing for  Mr.  Calvin,  he  was  told  he  was  the  person. 
Eckius  acquainted  him  that  he  was  a  stranger; 
and  having  heard  much  of  his  fame,  was  come  to 
wait  upon  him.  Calvin  invited  him  to  come  in, 
and  he  entered  the  house  with  him;  where,  dis- 
coursing of  many  things  concerning  religion,  Eck- 
ius perceived  Calvin  to  be  an  ingenious,  learned 
man,  and  desired  to  know  if  he  had  not  a  garden 
to  walk  in.  To  which  Calvin,  replying  that  he 
had,  {hey  both  went  into  it ;  and  there  Eckius  be- 
gan to  inquire  of  him  why  he  left  the  Koman 
Church,  and  oifered  him  some  arguments  to  per- 
suade him  to  return  ;  but  Calvin  could  by  no  means 
be  inclined  to  think  of  it.  At  last  Eckius  told 
him  that  he  would  put  his  life  in  his  hands;  and 
then  said  he  was  Eckius,  the  Pope's  legate.  At 
this  discovery,  Calvin  was  not  a  little  surprised, 
and  begged  his  pardon,  that  he  had  not  treated 
him  with  that  respect  which  was  due  to  his  quality. 


TEMPTATION   OF   JOHN   CALVIN.  159 

Eckius  returned  the  compliment,  and  told  him  if 
he  would  come  back  to  the  Roman  Church,  he 
would  certainly  procure  for  him  a  Cardinal's  cap. 
But  Calvin  was  not  to  be  moved  by  such  an  offer. 
Eckius  then  asked  him  what  revenue  he  had. 
He  told  the  Cardinal  he  had  that  house  and  gar- 
den, and  fifty  livres  per  annum,  besides  an  annual 
present  of  some  wine  and  corn ;  on  which  he  lived 
very  contentedly.  Eckius  told  him,  that  a  man 
of  his  parts  deserved  a  greater  revenue;  and  then 
renewed  his  invitation  to  come  over  to  the  Roman 
Church,  promising  him  a  better  stipend  if  he 
would.  But  Calvin  giving  him  thanks,  assured 
him  he  was  well  satisfied  with  his  condition. — 
About  this  time  dinner  was  ready,  when  he  enter- 
tained his  company  as  well  as  he  could,  excused 
the  defects  of  it,  and  paid  him  great  respect. 
Eckius  after  dinner  desired  to  know,  if  he  might 
not  be  admitted  to  see  the  church,  which  anciently 
was  the  cathedral  of  that  city.  Calvin  very  read- 
ily answered  that  he  might;  accordingly,  he  sent 
to  the  officers  to  be  ready  with  the  keys,  and  de- 
sired some  of  the  syndics  to  be  there  present,  not 
acquainting  them  who  the  stranger  was.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  it  was  convenient,  they  both  went 
towards  the  church,  and  as  Eckius  was  coming 
out  of  Calvin's  house,  he  drew  out  a  purse,  with 
about  one  hundred  pistoles,  and  presented  it  to 
Calvin.  But  Calvin  desired  to  be  excused ;  Eck- 
ius told  him,  he  gave  it  him  to  buy  books,  as 
well  as  to  express  his  respect  for  him.  Calvin, 
with  much  regret  took  the  purse,  and  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  church,  where  the  syndics  and  offi- 
cers waited  upon  them ;  at  the  sight  of  whom  Eck- 
ius thought  he  had  been  betrayed,  and  whispered 


160  APPENDIX. 

his  thouglits  in  Calvin's  ear;  but  Calvin  assured 
him  to  the  contrary.  Thereupon  they  went  into 
the  church;  and  Eckius  having  seen  all,  told  Cal- 
vin he  did  not  expect  to  find  things  in  so  decent 
an  order,  having  been  told  to  the  contrary.  After 
having  taken  a  full  view  of  everything,  Eckius 
was  returning  out  of  the  church,  but  Calvin  stop- 
ped him  a  little,  and  calling  the  syndics  and  officers 
together,  took  the  purse  of  gold  which  Eckius  had 
given  to  him,  telling  them  that  he  had  received 
that  gold  from  this  worthy  stranger,  and  that  now 
he  gave  it  to  the  poor,  and  so  put  it  all  into  the 
poor  box  that  was  kept  there.  The  syndics 
thanked  the  stranger,  and  Eckius  admired  the 
charity  and  modesty  of  Calvin.  When  they  were 
come  out  of  the  church,  Calvin  invited  Eckius 
again  to  his  house,  but  he  replied  that  he  must 
depart;  so  thanking  him  for  all  his  civilities, 
offered  to  take  his  leave.  But  Calvin  waited  upon 
him  to  the  inn,  and  walked  with  him  a  mile  out 
of  the  territories  of  Geneva,  where  with  great  com- 
pliments, they  took  a  farewell  of  each  other.'' 

Eckius  was  a  very  learned  divine.  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Ingolstadt,  memorable  for  his 
opposition  to  Luther,  ]Vlelancthon,  and  other 
reformers  in  German3^  He  died  in  15-43  aged 
fifty-seven. 


CALVIN'S  ORDINATION. 

The  chief  difficulty,  which  I  had  occasion  to 
mention  in  noticing  the  allegation  made  by  Eo- 
manists    and   Prelatists,   that  Calvin   was   never 


Calvin's  ordination.  161 

ordained,  was  the  fact  tliat  there  is  no  record,  in 
so  iiia/ny  words,  of  its  time  and  place,  and  of  the 
persons  who  officiated  at  the  ordination.  I  have 
shown,  however,  that  there  is  every  evidence  that 
could  be  adduced  for  the  certainty  of  the  fact,  and 
for  its  universal  recognition  by  all  his  cotempora- 
ries,  both  Romish,  Anglican,  and  Eeformed. 

But  the  difficulty  may  be  met  by  an  ai-giiment- 
um  ad  Jiominem.  Has  any  one,  I  ask,  ever  ques- 
tioned the  ordination  of  Bishop  Butler,  or  docs 
any  one  now  doubt  whether  he  was  really  and 
canonically  ordained?  The  answer  must  be  given 
in  the  negative.  And  yet  on  the  ground  assumed 
by  our  opponents,  his  ordination  may  be  altogether 
denied.  For  in  his  life  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  it  is 
recorded,  that  ''at  what  time  he  took  orders  doth 
not  appear,  nor  who  the  bishop  was  by  whom  he 
was  ordained."  And  again  :  ''It  is  perhaps  a  lit- 
tle singular  that  notwithstanding  his  private  me- 
moranda, which  refer  to  the  date  of  almost  every 
other  event  connected  with  his  public  life,  there 
is  wo  allusion  either  to  tJie  period  of  his  ordina- 
tion, or  to  the  Prelate  who  conferred  orders  upon 
him/' 

This,  certainly,  is  very  singular,  and  more  than 
a  parallel  to  the  case  of  Calvin.  Was  Calvin  edu- 
cated in  the  Romish  Church? — Butler  was  brought 
up  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Had  Calvin 
difficulty  in  making  up  his  mind  to  embrace  the 
Reformed  opinions? — So  had  Butler  in  receiving 
the  tenets  of  the  Establishment.  Did  Calvin  em- 
brace and  avow  the  Reformed  opinions  respecting 
the  Church,  and  the  ministry,  and  ordination? — 
So  did  Butler  those  of  the  Established  Church  in 
England.     And  do  tliese  avowed  opinions  of  But- 


162  APPENDIX. 

ler,  and  this  very  change  of  connection,  make  it 
certain  that  he  must  have  been  regularly  ordained, 
although  there  is  such  a  mysterious  absence  of  all 
proof — and  how  much  more  certainly  must  we  con- 
clude that  such  was  also  the  case  as  it  regards  Cal- 
vin? For  if  such  an  omission  can  be  supposed  in 
England,  at  so  recent  a  period,  and  under  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  how  much  more  mis-ht  it 
be  looked  for  in  the  earliest  period  of  the  Reform- 
ation, and  amid  the  incipieucy  of  all  their  arrange- 
ments. 

Our  opponents,  therefore,  before  again  exposing 
their  captious  malice  by  taunting  us  with  the  case 
of  Calvin,  had  better  learn  the  wisdom  of  that 
proverb,  that  "  they  who  live  in  glass  houses  ought 
not  to  throw  stones.'^ 


CALVIN'S  MISSION  TO  BRAZIL. 

It  was  during  this  dark  time  that  an  event  oc- 
curred which  has  escaped  the  notice  of  many 
American  antiquaries  and  historians.  We  mean 
the  emigration  of  French  Protestants  to  Brazil. 
To  call  this  a  mission,  Dr.  Henry  thinks  inaccu- 
rate.* Yet  it  appears  from  the  letters  of  Richer, 
the  preacher  of  the  refugees,  that  they  were  not 
without  some  thoughts  of  converting  the  heathen. 
Yillegagnon,  a  knight  of  Malta,  gave  the  great 
Coligni  reason  to  believe,  that  he  was  about  to 
secure  a  spot  in  America,  where  the  persecuted 
Protestants  might  find  a  refuge.    The  admiral  was 

*  Guericke,  Kircliengesch.  p.  1151. 


Calvin's  mission  to  brazil.       163 

won  by  the  benevolent  prospect.  A  small  island, 
we  suppose  it  to  have  been  near  Eio  de  Janeiro, 
was  occupied  by  A^'illegagnon,  in  the  name  of  Co- 
ligni.  Ministers  of  the  word  were  now  demanded, 
and  Richer  and  Chartier  were  sent  from  Geneva. 
But,  by  a  hideous  treachery,  these  poor  non-con- 
formists of  the  South,  less  favoured  than  their 
later  brethren  of  Plymouth,  were  fiercely  pur- 
sued under  the  French  edicts.  Four  of  them 
witnessed  a  good  confession,  and  were  cast  into 
the  sea:  the  rest  escaped  to  France.  Jean  de 
Lery,  afterwards  a  minister  at  Berne,  was  an  eye- 
witness of  these  atrocities,  which  he  described  on 
his  return. 

The  unusual  interest  which  attaches  to  this 
somewhat  obscure  chapter  in  history  justifies  us 
in  adding  a  few  more  particulars.  Nicolas  de 
Yillegagnon  was  vice-admiral  in  Brittany,  under 
Henry  II.  Being  disappointed  and  chagrined, 
because  his  services  were  not  sufficiently  recog- 
nized, he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  expedi- 
tion aforesaid.  There  were  two  excellent  ships, 
and  they  set  sail  in  1555.  The  river  Coligni,  at 
which  they  made  settlement,  is  sufficiently  pointed 
out  by  the  rude  approximative  statement  of  the 
latitude.*  The  natives  were  kind,  but  the  set- 
tlers had  more  than  the  usual  trials  of  colonists. 
Kicher,  whom  we  just  now  named,  was  fifty  years 
of  age,  and  Chartier  about  thirty.  Even  on  their 
voyage  they  were  ill-treated  by  the  people  of  Yil- 
legagnon. They  landed  on  the  7th  of  March, 
1556,  and  showed  their  letters,  to  which  was  ap- 

*  Oil  le  pole  antarctique  s'eleve  sur  I'horizon  23  de- 
gres  quelque  peu  moins. 


164  APPENDIX. 

pended  the  name  of  Calvin.  The  perfidious  gov- 
ernor did  not  at  first  throw  aside  the  mask,  but 
even  went  so  far  as  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, according  to  the  Protestant  rite,  as  appears 
from  Kicher's  letter  to  Calvin.  In  this  letter  are 
several  things  worthy  of  more  special  notice  than 
we  can  here  bestow.  There  is  much  naivete  and 
piety  in  the  good  missionary's  report.  The  peo- 
ple are  rude,  he  says,  though  he  knows  not  assur- 
edly that  they  are  cannibals.  They  have  no  sense 
of  right  and  wrong,  and  no  idea  of  Grod,  so  that 
there  is  little  hope  of  making  Christ  known  to 
them.  The  language  is  a  chief  hinderance.  No- 
thing can  be  hoped  until  there  are  more  settlers, 
by  whose  converse  and  example  the  Indian  people 
may  be  christianized.  A  certain  learned  doctor 
Cointiac  used  the  preachers  ill,  and  declared  him- 
self an  enemy  of  the  Huguenot  worship.  In  this 
he  was  now  joined  by  Villegagnon,  who  suspended 
Richer  from  his  functions.  Chartier  was  sent  to 
Europe  to  represent  the  matters  in  contest.  Vil- 
legagnon now  began  to  persecute,  and  forbade  the 
wretched  exiles  to  escape.  Richer  and  his  com- 
panions retired  to  the  forest,  where  they  were 
humanely  treated  by  the  savages.  But  others, 
who  endeavoured  to  get  off  by  ship,  were  seized 
and  imprisoned.  Villegagnon,  in  his  new  zeal  for 
popery,  condemned  five  Huguenots  to  death,  under 
the  ordonnances  of  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.  One 
Bordel  was  cast  into  the  sea,  to  die  as  a  martyr : 
so  died  also  Vermeil  and  Pierre  Bourdon.  Ville- 
gagnon returned  to  France,  and  "wrote  against  the 
gospel,  but  was  answered  iDy  Richer.  The  perse- 
cutor died  wretched  and  impenitent. 


APPENDIX   VI. 


CALVIN'S  WIFE. 

The  following  account  of  Calvin's  wife,  and  of 
his  domestic  life  and  character,  will  be  at  once 
very  interesting,  and  will  very  thoroughly  corrob- 
orate our  view  of  his  character.  It  is  given  in 
the  words  of  Monsieur  G.  de  Felice,  and  is  taken 
from  the  New  York  Observer,  of  which  he  is  the 
able  and  always  interesting  correspondent. 

IDELETTE     DE     BURE. 

calyin's  wife. 

Preliminary  Observations — Calvin  hanislied  froTn 
Geneva  and  established  at  Strasbiirg — Traits 
in  his  Character —  Various  Plans  of  Marriage — 
Idelette  De  Bure — Biographical  Notice — The 
Marriage  Ceremony — Ccdvin's  Journey — His 
Return  to  Geneva. 

In  my  letter  on  the  religious  anniversaries  of 
Paris,  I  said  that  Mr.  Jules  Bonnet,  a  distin- 
guished writer,  who  had  spent  several  years  in  col- 
lecting the  manuscript  correspondence  of  Calvin, 
had  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the 
History  of  French  Protestantism,  a  notice  of  Ide- 
lette De  Bure,  the  wife  of  the  great  Reformer. 
The  piece  has  since  been  published,  and  I  am 
15  (165) 


166  APPENDIX. 

happy  to  communicate  a  sketch  of  it  to  your 
readers,  adding  some  facts  derived  from  other 
sources. 

Idelette  de  Bure  may  be  a  new  name,  even  to 
well  informed  theologians,  who  have  carefully 
studied  the  annals  of  the  Reformation.  I  confess 
humbly  that,  for  my  part,  I  had  hardly  read  here 
and  there  three  or  four  lines  on  the  wife  of  Cal- 
vin, and  that  I  knew  nothing  of  his  domestic  life. 
The  same  ignorance  exists  probably  in  a  majority 
of  those  who  will  cast  their  eyes  upon  my  letter. 
Mr.  Jules  Bonnet  has  then  rendered  a  real  and 
important  service  to  the  numerous  friends  of  the 
Geuevese  Keformer :  this  notice  of  him  is  an  his- 
torical resurrection. 

Of  Luther's  wife  everybody  has  heard — that 
Catherine  de  Bora,  who  left  a  nunnery  to  enter 
the  holy  state  of  matrimony.  The  German  Re- 
former often  alludes  to  the  character,  habits,  and 
opinions  of  his  dear  Katy,  as  he  called  her.  He 
shows  us  under  her  different  aspects,  this  good, 
simple-hearted  woman,  who  had  little  intellectual 
culture,  but  earnest  piety.  He  acquaints  us 
minutely  with  his  domestic  life.  We  weep  with 
him  over  the  grave  of  his  31agdalen;  we  listen  to 
his  conversations  with  his  son,  to  whom  he  speaks 
in  poetic  terms  of  the  joys  of  Paradise.  In  a 
word,  Luther's  house  is  thrown  open,  and  poster- 
ity see  the  sweet  face  of  Catherine  de  Bora, 
drawn  by  the  pencil  of  the  illustrious  Lucas 
Kranach,  as  distinctly  almost  as  Luther's.  Why 
is  it  not  the  same  with  Calvin  and  his  wife  ? 
Why  is  their  domestic  sanctuary  so  little  known  ? 

The  chief  reason  is  found  in  the  marked  differ- 
ence between  the  two  great  founders  of  Protes- 


Calvin's  wife.  167 

tantism.  Lutlier,  the  faithful  representative  of 
the  German  or  Saxon  genus,  loved  home-life,  and 
attached  value  to  its  least  incidents;  he  was  warm 
hearted,  ever  ready  to  introduce  his  friends  to  the 
joys  and  sorrows  of  his  fireside.  He  took  pleasure 
in  sharino;  with  his  wife  and  children  all  his  own 
emotions.  Calvin  had  also,  as  we  shall  see,  an 
affectionate  heart,  capable  of  strong  attachments. 
But  his  natural  disposition  was  reserved  and  aus- 
tere. He  would  have  regarded  it  as  a  weakness, 
perhaps  an  act  of  guilty  pride,  to  draw  frequent 
attention  to  himself,  his  sentiments,  his  personal 
concerns.  He  avoided  expressions  of  warm  feel- 
ing. "His  soul,  absorbed  by  the  tragic  emotions 
of  the  struggle  he  maintained  at  Geneva,  and  by 
the  labours  of  his  vast  propagandism  abroad,'' 
says  Mr.  Bonnet,  "rarely  revealed  itself,  and  only 
in  brief  words:  which  are  the  lightnings  of  moral 
sensibility,  revealing  unknown  depths,  without 
showing  them  wholly  to  our  view."  No  wonder 
that  Idelette  de  Bure  remained  half  concealed, 
the  more  so  as  she  lived  only  a  few  years,  and  no 
children  remained  of  their  marriage.  Yet,  among 
Calvin's  letters  are  found  interesting  notices  of  this 
woman,  who  was  certainly  worthy  of  the  illustri- 
ous man  that  had  offered  her  his  hand. 

During  his  youth,  Calvin  had  not  thought  of 
contracting  the  bonds  of  matrimony :  he  could  not 
indeed  be  married.  Hunted  by  implacable  per- 
secutors, with  no  house  in  which  to  repose  his 
head;  forced  to  hide  himself  sometimes  in  Ang- 
ouleme,  sometimes  in  Bale;  preaching  from  place 
to  place,  and  celebrating  the  holy  supper  with 
some  friends  in  the  depths  of  woods  or  in  caves; 
besides,  occupied  day  and  night  in  composing  his 


168  APPENDIX. 

book  on  the  Institutions  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
which  was  intended  to  plead  before  the  King 
Francis  I  ,  the  cause  of  his  brethren,  who  were 
condemned  to  frightful  punishments;  how  could 
he  wish  to  be  married  ?  Would  he  have  acted 
wisely  to  aggravate  his  evils  by  domestic  cares, 
and  to  call  a  wife  to  bear  half  of  so  heavy  a  bur- 
den? 

In  August,  1536,  Calvin  became  professor  and 
pastor  at  Geneva.  He  had  acquired  a  home  ]  but 
still  his  labours  were  great.  He  had  to  struggle 
against  the  men  called  libertines,  who,  after  break- 
ing the  yoke  of  Romanism,  abandoned  themselves 
to  the  grossest  licentiousness.  They  viewed  the 
Reformation  as  a  license  to  disregard  all  laws  hu- 
man and  divine.  These  libertines  occupied  high 
offices  in  Geneva.  They  were  in  the  councils  of 
state,  and  had  behind  them  a  disorderly  populace. 
Calvin  saw  that  the  precious  interests  of  the  evan- 
gelical faith  were  jeoparded.  He  lifted  his  voice 
with  invincible  energy  against  the  libertines,  and 
refused  to  receive  them  at  the  holy  table,  expos- 
ing his  blood,  his  life,  to  the  discharge  of  his 
duty.  Certainl}^,  this  was  not  the  moment  to  seek 
a  wife. 

He  was  banished  from  Geneva  by  the  libertine 
party  in  April,  1538;  and  having  been  invited  by 
the  pious  Bucer  to  come  to  Strasburg,  he  was 
appointed  pastor  of  a  parish  of  French  refugees. 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  marriage  seems  to  have 
occupied  his  thoughts ;  or  rather,  his  friends,  par- 
ticularly Farel,  tried  to  find  for  him  a  wise  and 
good  companion. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  Farel  in  May,  1539, 
(he  was  then  thirty  years  old),  Calvin  sketches 


Calvin's  wife.  169 

his  ideal  of  a  wife.  "Remember/'  he  says  to 
his  friend,  "what  I  especially  desire  to  meet  with 
in  a  wife.  I  am  not,  you  know,  of  the  number 
of  those  inconsiderate  lovers  who  adore  even  the 
faults  of  the  woman  who  charms  them.  I  could 
only  be  pleased  with  a  lady  who  is  sweet,  chaste, 
modest,  economical,  patient,  and  careful  of  her 
husband's  health.  Has  she  of  whom  you  have 
spoken  to  me  these  qualities?  Come  with  her 
.  .  .  .  ,  if  not  let  us  say  no  more." 

Another  letter  to  the  same  pastor,  Farel,  dated 
6  Febniary,  1540,  shows  us  Calvin,  eluding  skil- 
fully a  proposal  of  marriage.  "There  has  been 
named  to  me,"  he  says,  "a  young  lady,  rich,  of 
noble  birth,  and  whose  dowry  surpasses  all  I  could 
desire.  Two  reasons,  however,  induce  me  to  de- 
cline: she  does  not  know  our  language  (she  was 
of  Alsace,  a  German  province,)  and  I  think  that 
she  is  too  proud  of  her  birth  and  of  her  educa- 
tion. Her  brother  endowed  with  uncommon 
piety,  and  blinded  by  his  friendship  for  me,  so  as 
even  to  neglect  his  own  interest,  urges  me  to  the 
choice,  and  the  wishes  of  his  wife  second  his  own. 
What  could  I  do  ?  I  should  have  been  forced  to 
yield  if  the  Lord  had  not  drawn  me  from  my  em- 
barrassment. I  replied  that  I  would  consent  if 
the  lady,  on  her  part,  would  promise  to  learn  the 
French  language.  She  had  asked  for  time  to  re- 
flect  " 

The  plan  was  abandoned.  Calvin  had  foreseen 
it,  and  congratulated  himself  on  not  marrying  a 
lady,  who,  with  a  large  fortune,  was  far  from  pos- 
sessing the  requisite  simplicity  and  humility. 
This  correspondence  confirms  what  history  relates 
of  Calvin's  character.     He  was  eminently  disin- 


170  APPENDIX. 

terested.  A  large  dowry  was  a  small  thing  in 
his  eyes.  Of  what  importance  was  it  for  him  to 
have  a  rich  wife^  if  she  was  not  a  Christian  ? 
This  is  the  same  man  who  refused  all  the  pecuni- 
ary oifers  of  the  sovereign  council  of  Geneva,  and 
hardly  left  wherewith  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his 
funeral — the  paltry  sum  of  fifty  silver  crowns. 

A  second  proposal  of  marriage  was  made.  The 
lady  in  question  had  not  any  fortune,  but  she  was 
distinguished  for  her  virtues.  ''Her  praise  is  in 
every  mouth,"  writes  Calvin  to  Farel,  in  June, 
1540.  So  Calvin  requested  his  brother,  Anthony 
Calvin,  in  connection  with  other  friends,  to  make 
proposals  of  marriage.  Unhappily,  he  learnt  some 
time  after,  something  unfavourable  of  the  young 
lady's  character;  he  withdrew  the  proposals,  and 
wrote  sadly  to  his  colleague:  ''I  have  not  yet 
found  a  companion ;  is  it  not  wisest  to  abandon 
my  search?"  Thus,  he  was  discouraged  by  these 
fruitless  attempts,  and  seemed  to  give  up  the 
prospect  of  marriage,  as  if  the  sweets  of  this 
union  were  not  made  for  him.  It  should  be  re- 
marked that  though  he  possessed  such  manly 
firmness  in  questions  of  Christian  faith,  and 
though  capable  of  giving  his  life  for  the  cause  of 
truth,  Calvin  was  timid  and  reserved  in  little 
things  of  common  life.  ''I  am,"  he  somewhere 
says,  "of  a  shy,  bashful  disposition;  I  have  al- 
ways loved  quiet,  and  I  seek  concealment.  I 
know  that  I  am  naturally  timid,  soft  and  pusillan- 
imous." 

He  preferred  to  remain  a  bachelor,  lest  he 
should  be  ill  received  by  the  young  ladies  whom 
he  addressed,  or  not  make  a  good  choice.  An 
unexpected  incident  changed  his  resolution.  There 


Calvin's  wipe.  171 

was  in  Strasburg  a  pious  lady  named  Idelette  de 
Bure.  She  was  a  widow,  and  all  her  time  was 
spent  in  training  the  children  she  had  had  by  her 
first  husband,  John  Storderj  of  the  Anabaptist 
sect.  She  was  born  in  a  small  town  of  Guelders, 
in  Holland.  She  came  to  the  capital  of  Alsace 
as  a  place  of  refuge  for  victims  of  persecution. 
The  learned  Dr.  Bucer  knew  Idelette  de  Bure, 
and  it  was  he  apparently  who  recommended  her 
to  Calvin's  attention. 

Externally,  there  was  in  this  woman  nothing 
very  attractive.  She  was  encumbered  with  seve- 
ral children  of  a  first  marriage  ]  she  had  no  for- 
tune; she  was  dressed  in  mourning;  her  person 
was  not  particularly  handsome.  But  for  Calvin, 
she  possessed  the  best  of  treasures,  a  living  and 
tried  faith,  an  upright  conscience,  and  lovely  as 
well  as  strong  virtues.  As  he  afterwards  said  of 
her,  she  would  have  had  the  courage  to  bear  with 
him  exile,  poverty,  death  itself,  in  attestation  of 
the  truth.  Such  were  the  noble  qualities  which 
won  the  Reformer. 

The  nuptial  ceremony  was  performed  in  Sep- 
tember, 1540.  Calvin  was  then  thirty-one  years 
old  and  two  months.  He  was  not  constrained  by 
juvenile  passion,  but  obeyed  the  voice  of  nature, 
reason  and  duty.  The  papists  who  constantly  re- 
proach the  Reformers  are  mistaken.  Luther  and 
Calvin,  both  of  them,  married  at  mature  age: 
they  did  what  they  ought  to  do  and  nothing 
more. 

No  pomp  in  Calvin's  marriage,  no  ill-timed  re- 
joiciags.  All  was  calm  and  grave,  as  suited  the 
piety  and  gravity  of  the  married  pair.  The  con- 
sistories of  Neufcliatel  and  of   Valentin,  in  Swit- 


172  APPENDIX. 

zerland,  sent  deputies  to  Strasburg  to  attend  this 
marriage;  a  striking  mark  of  their  attachment  and 
respect  for  Calvin, 

Hardly  were  the  nuptials  passed  when  the 
leader  of  the  French  Reformation  was  constrained 
to  leave  the  sweets  of  this  domestic  union.  A 
diet  was  convened  at  Wo/^ms,  in  which  most  im- 
portant questions,  relative  to  the  future  conditions 
of  Protestantism,  were  to  be  discussed.  Calvin 
was  naturally  called  to  take  part  in  them.  He 
went  to  Worms,  then  to  Ratishonne,  trying  to 
conclude  a  peace  between  the  two  branches  of  the 
Reformation.  During  his  absence  he  confided 
his  wife  to  the  care  of  Anthony  Calvin,  and  the 
noble  family  de  Riclichourg,  where  he  fulfilled  for 
some  time  the  office  of  preceptor.  The  plague 
broke  out  at  Strasburg  to  his  great  alarm,  and 
penetrated  the  house  where  Idelette  de  Bure 
lived.  Jjouis  de  Richebourg  and  another  inmate 
of  the  family  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the  disease. 
Calvin  trembled  for  his  dear  wife.  ''I  try,''  he 
writes,  'Ho  resist  my  grief — I  resort  to  prayer 
and  to  holy  meditations,  that  I  may  not  lose  all 
courage."  During  his  residence  at  Ratisbonne, 
where  the  fundamental  interests  of  the  new 
churches  were  discussed,  Calvin  received  a  depu- 
tation from  Geneva,  begging  him  earnestly  to 
return  to  that  city.  The  Libertine  party  had  dis- 
closed their  detestable  designs.  The  strong  will 
and  the  moral  power  of  Calvin  were  necessary  to 
restore  order.  He  resisted  this  call  a  long  time. 
His  hesitation,  his  tears,  his  anguish,  attested  that 
he  viewed  with  a  sort  of  horror  the  heavy  burden 
which  was  laid  upon  him.  At  last  he  yielded, 
saying:  ^'Not  my  will;  0  God^  but  thine  be  done! 


Calvin's  wife.  173 

I  offer  my  heart  a  sacrifice  to  thy  holy  will!" 
And  on  the  13th  of  September,  1511,  he  returned, 
after  an  exile  of  three  years  to  the  city  of 
Geneva,  the  face  and  the  destinies  of  which  he 
changed.  I  am,  &c., 

G.  De  F. 


Idelette  de  Bure  settled  in  Geneva — Her  Chris- 
tian  Virtues — Domestic  Ajffiictions — Her  fre- 
quent Sickness — Last  Moments — Death — Cal- 
vin^ s  Grief- — Conclusion. 

Before  fixing  his  residence  definitely  in  Geneva, 
Calvin  had  determined  to  go  there  and  examine 
for  himself  the  true  state  of  things.  He  went 
alone,  leaving  his  wife  in  Strasburg.  But  he 
had  no  sooner  entered  the  walls  of  the  city  than 
the  Genevese,  fearing  to  lose  once  more  a  man  of 
whom  they  stood  in  so  much  need,  took  all  proper 
measures  to  detain  him.  The  public  councils 
decided  that  a  messenger  of  state  should  be  sent  to 
Idelette  at  Strasburg,  and  should  bring  her  with 
her  household  (these  were  the  terms  of  the  reso- 
lution) into  the  house  assigned  to  the  Reformer. 
Thus  did  this  humble,  Christian  woman,  receive 
honours  decreed  to  a  princess  of  royal  blood,  hav- 
ing a  messenger  of  state  to  guide  and  usher  her 
into  her  new  dwelling. 

Recent  researches  have  been  published  con- 
cerning this  house  which  the  magistrates  gave  for 
Calvin's  use  after  his  return  from  exile.  It  had 
belonged  formerly  to  an  abbey,  and  was  situated  in 


174  APPENDIX. 

an  agreeable  position  which  opened  extensive 
views  of  the  smiling  borders  of  Lake  Leman  and 
the  majestic  amphitheatre  of  the  Alps.  It  is 
remarkable,  this  house  is  now  again  in  the  hands 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  have  converted  it 
into  a  charitable  institution,  under  the  protection 
of  St.  Vincent  of  Paul.  In  spite  of  the  honours 
which  were  accorded  by  the  political  councils  of 
Geneva,  Idelette  de  Bure  was  not  ambitious  to 
play  a  brilliant  part  in  society.  Always  modest 
and  reserved,  practising  the  virtues  which  suited 
her  sex,  and  shunning  noise  and  pomp  with  as 
much  solicitude  as  other  women  seek  them,  she 
consecrated  her  days  to  the  duties  of  her  pious 
vocation.  Her  private  correspondence  with  Cal- 
vin— on  the  rare  occasions  when  he  mentions  his 
wife — makes  us  see  her  under  a  very  engaging 
aspect.  She  visited  the  poor,  consoled  the  afflict- 
ed, and  received  with  hospitality  the  numerous 
strangers  who  came  without  knocking  at  the  gate 
of  the  Reformer.  In  fact,  every  one  recognized 
in  her  the  pious  woman,  of  whom  it  is  said  in 
Scripture,  having  "a  meeh  and  quiet  spirit  which 
is  in  the  sight  of  God  of  great  price,"  and  worthy 
to  be  praised  for  ever  for  her  works. 

Idelette  de  Bure  devoted  herself  particularly  to 
the  care  of  her  husband.  Exhausted  by  his  con- 
stant labours,  Calvin  was  frequently  ill;  and  treat- 
ing his  body  roughly,  after  the  example  of  Paul, 
he  persisted  amidst  bodily  sufferings  to  perform 
the  multiplied  duties  of  his  office.  Then  his  wife 
would  come  and  tenderly  recommend  him  to  take 
a  little  repose,  and  watch  at  his  pillow  when  his 
illness  had  assumed  an  alarming  character.  Be- 
sides, (and  this  will  surprise  the  reader,)  Calvin 


Calvin's  wife.  175 

had  at  times,  like  ordinary  men,  desponding  feel- 
ings; he  was  inclined  to  low  spirits.  '^Some- 
times," he  himself  says,  "although  I  am  well  in 
body,  I  am  depressed  with  grief,  which  prevents 
me  from  doing  anything,  and  I  am  ashamed  to 
live  so  uselessly."  In  these  moments  of  dejec- 
tion, when  the  heroic  Reformer  seemed,  in  spite 
of  his  energy  and  incomparable  activity,  to  sink 
under  the  weight  of  our  common  infirmities, 
Idelette  de  Bure  was  at  hand,  with  tender  and 
encouraging  words,  which  the  heart  of  woman 
can  alone  find;  and  her  hand,  so  feeble,  yet  so 
welcome  and  so  affectionate,  restored  the  giant  of 
the  Reformation,  who  made  the  Pope  and  kings 
tremble  on  their  thrones !  Oh,  the  precious  sup- 
port and  the  magic  power  of  a  religious,  attentive 
and  loving  wife ! 

Who  can  picture  the  salutary  influence  which 
the  humble  Idelette  de  Bure  exercised  over  the 
Reformer?     Calvin,  as  Mr.  Jules  Bonnet  remarks, 
was  often  pained  by  the  opposition  he  met  with, 
for   men    submit   reluctantly    to   the   designs    of 
genius.     '' How  often,"  adds  the  biographer,  "in 
these  years  of  struggle  and  of  secret  weaknesses 
which  his  correspondence  reveals,  did  he  become 
composed  before  the  courageous  and  sweet  woman 
who  could  make  no  compromise  with  duty !    How 
many  times,  perhaps,  he  was  soothed  and  quieted 
by  one  of  those  words  which  come  from  the  heart ! 
....  And  when   afterwards  more  gloomy  days 
arrived,  and  the  strife  of  opinions  called  forth 
JBoIsec,  Michael   Servetus,    Gentilis,    (Idelette  de 
Bure  was  no  longer  alive)  who  can  say  how  much 
the  Reformer  missed  the   advice,  the  sweet  in- 
fluence of  this  woman? 


176  APPENDIX. 

To  return  to  our  narrative.  Idelette's  greatest 
pleasure  was  to  listen  to  the  holy  exhortations  of 
Far  el,  Peter  Vlret, ^Theodore  de  Beze,  who  often 
sat  at  the  hospitable  table  of  their  illustrious 
chief,  and  loved  to  renew  their  courage  in  con- 
verse with  him.  Sometimes — but  rarely — she 
accompanied  her  husband  in  his  walks  to  Cologny, 
to  Belle-Rive  on  the  enchanting  banks  of  Lake 
Leman.  At  other  times,  in  order  to  repose  after 
her  fatigues,  or  when  Calvin  was  called  away  to 
attend  to  the  business  of  the  Reformed  Churches, 
Idelette  would  go  and  spend  some  days  at  Laus- 
anne with  the  wife  of  Yiret.  We  see  her  in  this 
Christian  family  in  1545  and  1548,  careful  not  to 
give  trouble  to  her  hosts,  and  troubled  because 
she  could  not  render  them  some  good  offices  in 
return  for  those  which  they  had  shown  her. 

Bitter  domestic  afflictions  came  upon  Calvin 
and  his  wife.  The  second  year  of  their  marriage, 
in  the  month  of  July,  1542,  Idelette  had  a  son. 
But,  alas  I  this  child,  for  whom  they  had  devoutly 
returned  thanks  to  God,  and  oiFered  so  many  fer- 
vent prayers,  was  soon  taken  from  them  by  death. 
The  churches  of  Geneva  and  of  Lausanne  showed 
the  parents  marks  of  sympathy.  Feeble  mitiga- 
tion of  so  heavy  a  trial !  It  is  easier  to  imagine 
than  to  express  the  grief  of  a  mother's  heart. 
Calvin  lets  us  see  his  sorrow  and  that  of  his  com- 
panion, in  a  letter  addressed,  the  10th  of  August, 
1542,  to  Peter  A'iret :  ^'  Salute  all  our  brethren,'' 
says  he,  ''  salute  also  your  wife,  to  whom  mine 
presents  her  thanks  for  her  tender  and  pious  con- 
solations  She  would  like  to  answer  them 

with  her  own  hand,   but  she   has  not  even   the 
strength  to  dictate  a  few  words.     The  Lord  has 


Calvin's  wife.  177 

dealt  us  a  grievous  blow,  in  taking  from  us  our 
son;  but  He  is  our  Father,  and  knows  what  is 
meet  for  his  children."  Paternal  affection  and 
Christian  resignation  are  both  displayed  in  Cal- 
vin's letters  at  this  time.  In  1544,  a  new  trial 
of  this  kind  afflicted  the  hearts  of  these  parents. 
A  daughter  was  born  to  them ;  she  lived  only  a 
few  days,  as  we  see  in  a  letter  addressed  in  1544 
to  the  pastor  Viret.  Again  a  third  child  was 
taken  from  them.  Idelette  wept  bitterly;  and 
Calvin,  so  often  tried,  sought  his  strength  from 
the  Lord ;  and  the  thought  occurred  to  him  that 
he  was  destined  only  to  have  children  according 
to  the  faith.  So  he  said  to  one  of  his  adversaries, 
who  had  been  base  enough  to  reproach  bim  with 
his  domestic  losses:  "Yes,"  replied  Calvin,  "the 
Lord  has  given  me  a  son;  he  has  taken  him  from 
me.  Let  my  enemies,  if  they  see  proper,  re- 
proach me  for  this  trial.  Have  not  I  thousands 
of  children  in  the  Christian  world?" 

The  health  of  Idelette,  already  delicate,  was 
impaired  by  these  repeated  griefs.  The  familiar 
letters  of  the  Reformer  inform  us  that  she  passed 
her  last  years  in  a  state  of  languor  and  suffering. 
Often  he  speaks  of  her  as  sick  in  bed,  and  asks 
the  prayers  of  her  friends.  Often  he  tells  how 
she  has  revived.  Calvin's  affection  for  his  wife 
appears  in  these  communications ;  "  Salute  your 
wife,"  he  writes  to  Viret  in  1548;  ''mine  is  her 
sad  companion  in  bodily  weakness.  I  fear  the 
issue.  Is  there  not  enough  evil  threatening  us 
at  the  present  time?  The  Lord  will  perhaps 
show  a  more  favourable  countenance." 

There  was  then  at  Geneva  a  learned  physician, 
named  Benedict  Textor.     He  was  a  pious  man. 
16 


178  APPENDIX. 

full  of  zeal  for  the  Lord,  and  a  particular  friend  of 
Calvin.  He  was  assiduous  in  his  care  of  Idelette, 
and  exhausted  himself  in  seeking  all  the  aid  that 
human  art  could  afford.  But  his  efforts  were 
fruitless,  the  fever  increased.  Calvin  felt  for  the 
physician  deep  gratitude,  and  addressed  him  in 
the  month  of  July,  1550,  a  letter  dedicating  to 
him  his  commentary  on  the  second  epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians.  Early  in  April,  1549,  Idelette's 
condition  inspired  deep  anxiety.  Theodore  de 
Beze,  Hottman,  Desgallers,  and  other  colleagues 
of  the  Reformer  hastened  to  him  to  console  him 
as  well  as  his  wife  in  her  last  illness.  Idelette, 
sustained  even  to  the  end  by  piety,  had  consented 
to  the  sundering  of  her  earthly  ties;  her  only 
anxiety  was  concerning  the  fate  of  the  children 
she  had  had  b'  ler  first  marriage.  One  of  her 
friends  asked  iier  to  speak  of  them  to  Calvin. 
"Why  should  I  do  so?"  she  answered;  "what 
concerns  me,  is  that  ray  children  may  be  brought 

up  in  virtue If  they  are  virtuous  they  will 

find  in  him  a  father.  If  they  are  not,  why  should 
I  recommend  them  to  him?''  But  Calvin  him- 
self knew  her  wishes,  and  promised  to  treat  her 
children  as  if  they  were  his  own.  "  I  have  already 
recommended  them  to  God,"  said  Idelette.  "But 
that  does  not  hinder  that  I  should  take  care  of 
them  also,''  said  Calvin.  "I  know  well,"  said 
she,  "that  you  will  never  abandon  those  whom  I 
have  confided  to  the  Lord." 

Idelette  saw  the  approach  of  death  with  calm- 
ness. Her  soul  was  unshaken  in  the  midst  of  her 
sufferings,  which  were  accompanied  by  frequent 
faintings.  When  she  could  not  speak,  her  look, 
her  gestures,  the  expression  of  her  face,  revealed 


Calvin's  wife.  179 

sufficiently  tlie  faith  which  strengthened  her  in 
her  last  hour.  On  the  morning  of  April  6th,  a 
pastor  named  Bourgoin  addressed  to  her  pious  ex- 
hortation. She  joined  in  broken  exclamations, 
which  seemed  an  anticipation  of  heaven  :  "0  glo- 
rious resurrection  !     0  God  of  Abraham  and  our 

fathers ! Hope  of  Christians  for  so  many 

ages,  in  thee  I  hope.'' 

At  7  o'clock  in  the  morning  she  fainted  again; 
and,  feeling  that  her  voice  was  about  to  fail, 
*'Pray,"  said  she,  ^'0  my  friends,  pray  for  me!" 
Calvin  approaching  her  bedside,  she  showed  her 
joy  by  her  looks.  With  emotion  he  spoke  to  her 
of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ;  of  the  earthly  pil- 
grimage; of  the  assurance  of  a  blessed  eternity; 
and  closed  by  a  fervent  prayer.  Idelette  followed 
his  words,  listened  attentively  to ''  '^e  holy  doctrine 
of  salvation  in  Jesus  crucified:  About  nine 
o'clock  she  breathed  her  last  sigh,  but  so  peace- 
fully that  it  was  for  some  moments  impossible  to 
discover  if  she  ceased  to  live,  or  if  she  was  asleep. 

Such  is  the  account  Calvin  gives  to  his  col- 
leagues of  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife.  Then  he 
turned  sadly  his  eyes  upon  his  now  desolate  stcite 
of  widowhood.  ''  I  have  lost,"  he  said  to  Viret, 
in  a  letter  of  April  7th,  1549,  ''I  have  lost  the 
excellent  companion  of  my  life,  who  never  would 
have  left  me  in  exile  nor  in  pain,  nor  in  death. 
So  long  as  she  lived,  she  was  a  precious  help  to 
me.  Never  occupied  with  herself,  and  never  be- 
ing to  her  husband  a  trouble  nor  a  hiuderance.  .  . 
...  I  suppress  my  grief  as  much  as  I  can;  my 
friends  make  it  their  duty  to  console  me;  but 
they  and  myself  eifect  little.  You  know  the  tender- 
ness of  my  heart,   not  to  say  its   weakness.     I 


180  APPENDIX. 

should  succumb  if  I  did  not  make  an  effort  over 
myself  to  moderate  my  affliction/'  Four  days 
after,  he  wrote  to  his  old  friend,  Farel :  ''Adieu, 
dear  and  beloved  brother ;  may  Grod  direct  you 
by  his  Spirit  and  support  me  in  my  trial !  I  would 
not  have  survived  this  blow,  if  God  had  not  ex- 
tended his  hand  from  heaven.  It  is  He  who  raises 
the  desponding  soul,  who  consoles  the  broken 
heart,  who  stren2:thens  the  feeble  knees." 

Under  the  weight  of  so  grievous  a  loss,  Calvin 
however,  was  enabled  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  of 
his  ministry;  and  the  constancy  he  displayed 
amidst  his  tears  excited  the  admiration  of  his 
friends,  as  we  read  it  in  Yiret's  reply  to  Calvin. 
The  remembrance  of  her  whom  he  had  no  more, 
was  not  effaced  from  his  heart.  Although  he  was 
but  forty  years  of  age,  he  never  thought  of  contract- 
ing other  ties ;  and  he  pronounced  the  name  of 
Idelette  de  Bure  only  with  profound  respect  for 
her  virtues  and  a  deep  veneration  for  her  memory. 

I  close  with  these  words  of  the  biographer : 
''  Calvin  was  great  without  ceasing  to  be  good;  he 
joined  the  qualities  of  the  heart  to  the  gifts  of 

genius He  tasted  domestic  happiness  in 

too  brief  a  union,  the  secrets  of  which,  dimly  re- 
vealed by  his  correspondence,  shed  a  melancholy 
and  sweet  li2;ht  over  his  life.''  G.  de  F. 


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